The Way To a Touchdown
by boo bat
Summary: An extended version of what happens during the three-week special training session before the Christmas Bowl. ShinSena!
1. Chapter 1

The Way To a Touchdown

Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 belongs to Inagaki Riichiro and Murata Yusuke, etc.

Notes: Um, since I was really happy that Shin was Sena's personal trainer during the special training session before the Christmas Bowl, but it was so short so I wanted to write a um, ShinSena extended version of what happened during that time?

--

Sena woke feeling sore all over. But that was normal for having had a game just two days before – especially since it had been against the Hakushu Dinosaurs and even Sena who wasn't nearly as injured as Hiruma, was definitely still feeling it.

"Sena-kun! Are you awake?" Sena heard his mother calling through his door.

"Mmph, yes," Sena answered.

"Mamori-chan called," his mother said. "She said not to be late for practice today."

Sena yawned and risked his sore muscles to rub his eyes. He wondered what that was about since Mamori usually never called to remind them about trivial things like being late – not that anyone ever really _was_ late, knowing how Hiruma could play up the punishment. Sena decided it was either Mamori being excited about their upcoming Christmas Bowl, or else something important was happening at practice today.

As it turned out, it was both.

When Sena came out to the field after school that day, it was filled with people. He stood just staring until Monta came and clapped him on the back.

"What's going on here?" Monta asked, looking equally dazed.

Sena had no clue. He could see people from all the teams they had played before on the field – Seibu Wild Gunmen, Taiyo Sphinx, Shinryuji Naga, Kyoshin Poseidon, Bando Spiders, Hakushu Dinosaurs, and Ojo White Knights – all in uniform and all warming up.

"Cry tears of joy, guys! It's the super personal trainers from hell!" Hiruma cackled, rolling in his portable oxygen capsule.

Sena jumped to one side, narrowly avoiding getting run over as Hiruma raced past.

Mamori was following close behind Hiruma but she stopped when she saw Sena and Monta. "Sena-kun, Monta-kun!" she said cheerfully. "Hiruma made all the other teams sign to say they'd help whoever ends up going to the Christmas Bowl so take this opportunity to train well!" she said.

"Ooh Mamori-san! Definitely training max!" Monta said, pumping his fist in the air.

"Er, um, how are we training?" Sena asked, completely lost as he looked at the field. Riku was here, as well as Akaba, Tetsuma, Mizumachi, and Kakei.

"Oh, we've matched you to your own personal coach so everyone gets special training," Mamori said, smiling.

Sena caught sight of Ootawara and found himself automatically searching the crowd for Shin.

"Of course you're matched with Shin," Mamori said.

Sena gulped as he caught sight of Shin. He was actually right beside Ootawara but he had been hidden behind Ootawara's large frame.

Even though he had seen Shin sitting in the bleachers during the Hakushu game, Sena hadn't come face to face with Shin since their own Ojo vs. Deimon game and Sena found himself both eager to see Shin, and rather nervous at the same time.

"One on one training?" Sena asked.

"And Monta-kun is with Ikkyuu-kun," Mamori continued.

"Ikkyuu…" Monta said, looking towards the field in search of his rival.

"Ah, Sena! Come here!"

Sena turned at Coach Doburaku's voice coming from behind him and was startled to see that sometime between turning away from Shin, Shin had already gone from warming up on one side of the field to the other side of the field where Doburaku stood behind Sena.

"Uh, um—"

Sena's nervous mumbling was cut off by Doburaku. "You two are training together! Do a square run!" he ordered. "Do nothing but chase each other without going off your course!"

Sena felt even more nervous. "P-p-please treat me favorably," he said, smiling nervously up at Shin. Even though he had somehow managed to beat Shin in the game against Ojo, more often than not, it was Shin who was beating Sena. And they'd have to go at it for who knew how many rounds here.

Shin looked seriously at him. "Even if it's training, let's go with all our strength, Eyeshield 21," he said.

"Y-yes!" Sena said. Shin took everything so seriously so Sena would have to give it his all too.

"Come over here. I've marked the spot in the field there," Doburaku said and Sena found himself falling into step beside Shin as they followed Doburaku out.

Sena couldn't help sneaking glances at Shin every so often as they walked in silence out to the field. Even though he somewhat idolized and therefore enjoyed being with Shin, he always felt awkward – moreso with Shin than anyone else. Sena thought this was probably because Shin was a very powerful athlete and very very capable of injuring him. It was really a miracle that Sena hadn't been injured with broken bones or anything like that playing against Shin, especially when Shin was so much bigger and stronger than he was.

They got to the field that Doburaku had marked and the coach immediately sat down to watch.

Sena slowly went over to the marked makeshift track. "U-um, should we start?" he asked hesitantly, sweating a little. He could already feel Shin's intense aura behind him and it was really very nerve-wracking. Sena was itching to run.

"What are you waiting for, fucking shrimp! Get going!" Hiruma's voice cut in and even though Hiruma was currently incapacitated and couldn't shoot a starting shot, he was still scary enough that Sena took off running automatically.

He could hear and feel Shin right behind him – his heavier, pounding footsteps on the turf – and Sena forced himself to keep the speed up even though he was already tired from barely a minute of running. While Sena had built up enough stamina to run for long periods of time, he still hadn't trained enough to maintain at light speed for long.

Sena's legs dug into the ground as he made the first 90 degree turn. It was difficult to turn so quickly at that speed but if he slowed even a little, Shin would no doubt catch him.

The next turn came but as soon as Sena began to turn, he felt his foot slip and he was falling. That was not good. Especially not with Shin behind him, just waiting to trample him. It was going to hurt, Sena thought. A lot. Especially since Shin was wearing cleats.

But to Sena's surprise, he didn't even hit the ground as he was suddenly jerked back by Shin's hand around his waist. For a moment, Sena thought he was going to get spear tackled and braced himself for pain, but then Shin let go and Sena realized he had just saved Sena from falling.

"Ah, er, th-thanks, Shin-san," Sena said, turning slightly red. That had been pretty embarrassing and it was in front of Shin too.

"Be careful," Shin said to him.

Sena gave a rather nervous laugh. "Um, right, thanks," he said.

"We'll go again, Eyeshield," Shin said.

Sena nodded and got back into position as he took off on the sprint again.

--

Sena was absolutely exhausted by the time practice finished. He didn't think he could ever lift his legs again as he sat heavily down on the locker room bench beside Monta. He did feel strangely elated though. After all, Sena thought, it wasn't every day that he actually got to train with Shin who was the best American football player he knew. Even if Sena was just as fast and maybe even a little bit faster than Shin, Shin was still stronger and taller and better at just about everything else. Shin really was a cool guy and Sena didn't feel any differently about it even if he had somehow beaten Shin during the match against Ojo.

"How was your training?" Sena asked Monta as he slowly peeled off his shoes and socks. His legs were actually shaking, Sena thought as he looked at them.

"Fine," Monta said.

Sena turned to look at him in surprise. It wasn't like Monta to be so…unenthusiastic about training – especially when Monta was enthusiastic about everything and training with Ikkyuu was definitely something Monta would get fired up about.

It was probably about Honjou, Sena realized – after they found out Honjou Taka was on the Teikoku team they'd be playing against. "Is it about—"

"I said I'm fine," Monta repeated, but turned and grinned at Sena. "Really."

Sena wasn't sure if he really believed Monta but it seemed like Monta didn't want him to butt into his business so Sena let it go. Instead, he let his mind wander back to training with Shin and as tired as he was, Sena found himself looking forward to training again tomorrow.

"Sena! Monta! Are you finished changing yet? We're all going to eat!" Kurita's voice came booming through the door.

"Almost done! We'll meet you there!" Monta shouted back.

They ended up going to a rotating sushi place because there were an awful lot of them with the addition of all the personal coaches now, and rotating sushi was cheap and affordable.

By the time Sena and Monta went in, just about everyone else was already there. Kurita, Gaou, Komusubi, and Ootawara were with the Huh-huh brothers in one corner. Since Kurita was closest to the new sushi rotations, it was inevitable that he got the most plates while the others tried to get to them before Kurita could. Kurita didn't seem to notice.

"Hey! That's my plate!" Togano said as Komusubi stole the plate from him.

"Hm," Komusubi smirked.

Togano snapped as Kuroki stole the sushi off of Komusubi's plate and ate it.

"Hah!" Kuroki said.

"Look at all the plates I got!" Ootawara boomed, laughing and Sena stared wide-eyed as he swept a whole bunch of plates off the rotating wheel.

"Huh?"

"_Huh?_"

"_HUH?_"

"That's cheating!" Kuroki shouted.

"You took all the expensive plates too," Gaou pointed out.

Ootawara laughed. "It's okay, it's okay! They're all 100 yen!" he said, pointing to the promotional sign that said 100 yen per sushi.

"Uh no, that's for the cheap plates only," Juumonji said.

Ootawara didn't appear to hear as he started eating.

Sena gave a rather nervous laugh as he began looking for an empty seat to sit at – preferably not close to that bunch.

Monta had already slipped into a seat a few places away from Mamori though he seemed to be trying to get her attention.

"Mamori-san! Do you want an expensive plate? I can treat you!" Monta shouted through the din.

"Thanks Monta! I want one!" Suzuna took him up on the offer.

Mamori was busy saying something to Hiruma who was cackling and neither of them appeared to notice Monta.

"I wasn't asking you!" Monta said.

Suzuna took a plate anyways. "Well just for that!" she said.

"Monkey-kun's treating us to expensive sushi?" Taki asked. "Wonderful!"

"Guhya!! Who's a monkey?" Monta demanded.

"I'm taking this plate too!" Suzuna declared, taking another expensive plate.

Monta groaned as he looked into his wallet.

"Eyeshield!"

Sena looked up at the name and saw Shin staring at him from the other side of the rotating wheel. There was an empty seat beside Shin that apparently Doburaku had just vacated in favor of going to the small bar.

Sena slipped into the seat gratefully. "Shin-san! I thought you weren't going to come—I-I mean, you said you didn't eat at restaurants last time…" Sena said, remembering the last time the Ojo and Deimon teams had met at the yakiniku restaurant.

"Occasionally it's fine," Shin said. "We don't have anything else to do until the next season."

Sena thought his mouth might drop open. Shin, the perfect athlete, was actually willing to splurge every once in awhile?

"I'll supplement the meal when I go home," Shin continued.

That sounded more like Shin, Sena thought. "Uh, um, yeah," Sena said with a weak laugh.

"Fuu, that's good taste in music," said Akaba who Sena noticed now, was sitting on Shin's other side. He had a sushi in one hand, and guitar in the other.

Sena wondered briefly why in the world Akaba had brought his guitar to a sushi bar and what sushi had to do with music at all, but this _was_ Akaba after all

Sena turned to the sushi bar to grab a plate, only to freeze when he saw Mizumachi on his other side. Mizumachi had climbed onto the table and was reaching right over the rotating wheel to the other side to grab plates.

"M-M-Mizumachi-san!" Sena said.

Mizumachi turned and grinned. "Oh, Sena! Want a plate? I'll get it for you!"

Sena gave a nervous laugh. "Um, er, it's all right. What are you doing though?"

Mizumachi blinked innocently at him. "I'm getting sushi! They get first pick on that side so of course I have to get the ones I want first!"

"You could just use the ordering screen," Sena said, pointing to the ordering screen that had been installed between every other seat.

Mizumachi climbed back down with his sushi. "Eh?" he asked.

Shin was looking at the electronic touch screen too so Sena leaned over to his side, figuring Mizumachi was tall enough to see even leaning over.

"See, if you want a sushi and it's not on the rotating wheel, you can just push a button and they'll send the sushi with the number of your seat," Sena explained. This was pretty standard though – it was a wonder that there were still people who didn't know how to use these.

"But isn't it funner to reach over?" Mizumachi said, and climbed back onto his seat.

Kakei, on his other side, didn't appear to notice at all.

_FSZZZT—_

Sena whirled around to see Shin's finger on the touch screen – that was now cracked and smoking.

"S-Shin-san!" Sena said.

"It's not working," Shin said.

Sena laughed nervously. So that was why Shin didn't know how to use it.

--

Sena slept like the dead that night and woke up still feeling sore and exhausted from the previous day's training. With just three weeks to go, though, they couldn't afford much time to rest so Sena forced himself out of bed, dressing into his jogging clothes.

With the strict training schedule that Hiruma and Doburaku had put together for all of them, this meant Sena was waking up three hours earlier than usual too to get some early morning training. Of course it wasn't all bad, Sena thought, as he grabbed his backpack, stuffing his school uniform inside as he headed out the door. Because Shin, as Sena's personal trainer, had to do all of Sena's training right along with him and at the thought of meeting Shin out at the field, Sena felt a layer of weariness slip away replaced by anticipation.

"S-Shin-san!" Sena called when he got to school.

Of course Shin was already there and stretching though he looked up when Sena approached.

"G-good morning," Sena said, a bit shyly. It was because they were the only two people out on the field at this time since everyone else was either doing training elsewhere or still at home sleeping depending on their different schedules.

Sena had never ever been alone with Shin before, he realized, since every time they had met, there had always been other people close by even if they had had a few private words together. But this early in the morning, the school field was completely abandoned and Sena wasn't quite sure what to do. Shin was a quiet person, after all, and Sena certainly wasn't loud. If Sena normally felt a bit nervous if happy when he was around Shin, it was a hundred times worse now and he wished he _was_ loud or talkative so he could strike up a conversation.

"Good morning," Shin answered, getting up and turning towards Sena. "I'll help you stretch," he said.

Sena nodded quickly, getting down on the ground and stretching his feet out in front of him as he felt surprisingly gentle pressure against his back. For someone so strong, Sena was a bit startled that Shin didn't squash him flat, but of course Shin had been playing football for quite some time now and of course he would have done this with others before.

As he warmed up, Sena found that the silence he had originally felt was so awkward wasn't really as bad as he thought, maybe because Shin didn't appear uncomfortable at all with it. In fact, Shin seemed to be completely at ease as they finished warming up – which was a somewhat foreign concept for Sena who was used to seeing Shin's serious, intense expression.

"We'll jog around the field," Shin said.

Sena nodded and began running when Shin did. Even just an easy jog like this was good training for Sena who was quite a bit shorter than Shin and therefore had work a lot more to keep up with him. As he jogged though, the soreness from the day before began to disappear and Sena began to feel more relaxed too as they did a few laps.

While Doburaku and Hiruma did come up with most of the schedule, a good part of Sena's training would also be planned by Shin who was the expert at increasing speed and stamina.

"Keep up," Shin told him a few laps later and began speeding up. Though they weren't at light speed yet, Sena could feel himself tiring as Shin kept the faster pace.

The next hour was spent jogging at that speed before they slowed again and then stopped to cool down since Shin had to go back to Ojo for his classes.

"Here," Shin said as Sena finished dressing and handed him a cooler bag.

Sena looked quizzically at it.

"Your breakfast and lunch today," Shin told him. "Nutrition is important for a sportsman."

Sena stared at the blue cooler. "Th-thank you," he stuttered. "You didn't have to—I mean, you could have just told me what to eat—" Sena said.

"You don't want it," Shin said, frowning.

"N-no! I do, I mean, thank you," Sena said quickly and sincerely. "I just don't want to trouble you…"

"It's no trouble," Shin said, which of course was true. At least, feeding Sena couldn't be any more trouble than all the training and time Shin was already spending on him. "You're going to get better," Shin said. It wasn't a question.

Sena nodded and Shin turned to leave. "Um, Shin-san?"

Shin stopped.

"What about dinner?" Sena asked.

Shin looked back at him, the corner of his lip twitching up just slightly. "We'll eat together. After practice," he said.

Sena flushed and nodded as Shin left the locker room.

Sena held the cooler bag on his lap – Shin's cooler with the food that Shin had made especially for him in it – and Sena felt his cheeks heat up as a smile spread across his face.

--

tbc? Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

The Way To a Touchdown

Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 belongs to Inagaki Riichiro and Murata Yusuke, etc.  
Notes: Thanks so much for the reviews!!

--

The entire Deimon High football team usually ate lunch together at the clubhouse since Mamori made lunch for Sena, and Kurita always came with a lot more food that he liked to share. Usually, Sena quite liked it since he could hang out with his friends during lunchtime and it was always pretty fun when everyone was together – or at the very least, Sena didn't feel out of place the way he did when he used to be bullied into buying lunch for people.

Today, though, Sena really wished he had someplace else to eat that was not in front of everyone in the football team.

"Hm? You're not eating?" Mamori asked when Sena shook his head at the bento box she held out for him.

"I, um…I have…" Sena began.

"Eh? If Sena doesn't want it, I'll have it Mamori-san!!" Monta said, jumping up from his seat where he had been pulling out his own packed lunch.

"Huh? You have a lunch from someone else?" Suzuna asked, grinning as she joined the group.

"Y-yeah…" Sena said, wondering why all three of them were suddenly staring at him like that.

Monta's nostrils flared. "Don't tell me… a _girl_ made you lunch?" he shouted loud enough that it attracted the three Huh-huh brothers' attentions.

"Huh?"

"_Huh?_"

"_HUH?_"

All three turned to glare at Sena.

"A girl confessed to you?" Togano asked.

"No way!! To Sena?" Kuroki demanded.

"I-I-It's not—" Sena began only to be interrupted by a loud cackle.

Hiruma held up Shin's cooler bag, dangling it by his long fingers. "Eh? What's this, fucking shrimp?" he asked.

Everyone turned to the cooler bag.

"Mukya! You really have a girlfriend?" Monta demanded.

"Oh, girls always give me their lunches!" Taki said, twirling around in the air.

Everyone ignored him because no one could think of a girl who would actually do that.

"Sena! When did you…?" Mamori turned to him, looking like she was torn between disbelief, and bursting into tears at the thought of Sena with a girlfriend.

Sena wasn't sure if he was more embarrassed or offended that she felt that way.

"I-It's not!" Sena protested as he tried to reach for the cooler bag. "Give it back!" he said as Hiruma only held it higher. Normally, Sena would never dare to go against Hiruma but this was the lunch Shin had told him especially to eat.

"What's in it?" Kurita asked, curiously. "Is it good?"

"Hm? Shin?" Hiruma raised an eyebrow at the name that had been written on the tag of the cooler bag.

"Huh?"

"_Huh?_"

"_HUH?_"

The Huh-huh brothers all turned to stare at Sena who let out a sigh.

"That's why I said… Shin-san made it for me for the training…" Sena said.

"Oh, that's what I thought. There's no way Sena could get a girlfriend," Kuroki said.

"Haha, yeah, at least not before me," Monta grinned, shooting not-so-subtle looks in Mamori's direction.

Sena wasn't sure if he felt more relieved or offended at those responses.

Either way, he was quite grateful to take the lunch as Hiruma dropped it back in his arms.

"Should I stop bringing lunch for you then?" Mamori asked. "Until training's over with Shin-san?"

"Um, y-yeah," Sena answered.

"Hey, so what did Shin put in it?" Monta asked as he and Suzuna leaned curiously over to look. It seemed they weren't the only ones curious about what was in the lunch since everyone but Hiruma also leaned over. Knowing Hiruma, he probably already knew Shin's complete diet.

Sena felt rather flustered as he opened the cooler and pulled out the small lunchbox that had his lunch in it.

Breakfast had been pretty simple with a hard-boiled egg, two nutrition bars, and an orange along with a pack of vitamins Sena was supposed to take with water. Sena really hated swallowing pills but since Shin had told him to and Sena really didn't want to disappoint Shin, he had somehow choked the vitamins down anyways – after drinking two full bottles of water to help them down. Sena was a little surprised that the breakfast had been so small and in fact, just about the amount Sena was used to eating for breakfast.

Then, he thought, Shin had made it especially for him and maybe Shin had actually thought about how much Sena usually ate and worked with that. The thought made Sena a little embarrassed and very happy even as he told himself Shin was only doing this so Sena could be a better athlete in time for the Christmas Bowl.

"Well, open it!" Suzuna said impatiently.

Sena found himself flushing nervously under all the attention as he opened the lunch box.

Inside was a gorgeous bento. Of course it didn't have any of the usual decorative things that Mamori or his mother or the other girls in class like to put in their bentos. But it certainly looked good if a little unusual. There were two halves of cut up sandwiches on one side made with wheat bread. On the other side was brown rice with egg and meat and surprisingly, it was all very beautifully and neatly arranged. Of course since it was Shin, Sena wasn't really that surprised to find it was so organized. Shin was pretty organized about things, really. There was also another small container that Sena found contained salad.

"Wow," Juumonji commented, looking at it.

"Huh…brown rice, that's kind of weird," Monta commented.

"It's healthier, right?" Suzuna said.

Sena shrugged. He had no clue about nutrition – he usually just ate whatever he was given or whatever was available in the kitchen at home.

"Itadakimasu!" Sena said, as the others turned back to their own lunches, their curiosity satisfied.

Sena wasn't really sure how the lunch would actually taste since it was brown rice and bread after all, but it was surprisingly delicious if a little chewier, Sena thought. And even though the lunch was quite a bit smaller in size than Sena was used to, after eating all the meat and wheat, Sena found himself quite full and satisfied.

The good feeling was still there when he went to the field for training after school let out. Actually, Sena couldn't wait to see Shin again even if he had just seen him earlier in the morning.

Since their personal trainers were all coming from their own schools, the Devil Bats set up the equipment they would be using and warmed up by themselves out on the field first while they waited for their trainers to arrive.

Sena was doing a few warm-up laps when the first of the trainers arrived – Tetsuma and Riku from Seibu.

"Hey, Sena!" Riku greeted him with a grin when he saw Sena.

Sena waved back at him and Tetsuma.

Tetsuma exhaled, looking quite blank.

Sena always felt pretty awkward around Tetsuma since Tetsuma never talked. Even if Shin was quiet, he talked whenever he thought he should and always answered Sena when Sena spoke to him. Tetsuma, though, never spoke unless he was told to speak except for the one time exception with Monta. Of course after that, he never spoke to them again.

Kakei and Mizumachi were next to arrive together with Akaba. The three of them walked in and Sena couldn't help staring for a moment as he watched Akaba stop to strum on his guitar as Mizumachi began to belt out some weird tune as he danced around him. A moment later, Taki was there, twirling right along to Mizumachi.

Kakei looked even more serious than usual – probably because he had been putting up with Mizumachi and Akaba's antics all through the train ride to Deimon High. Wow, Sena thought, so even Kakei wasn't completely immune.

Shin and Ootawara arrived together, of course, signaling their entrance with a loud fart form Ootawara.

"Oops!" Ootawara laughed as Komusubi took off at a run towards him.

"S-Shin-san!" Sena said as he, too, trotted towards the gate to greet his trainer. "H-hi," he said, looking up at him as he gave Shin back the cooler.

Shin nodded, taking it from Sena. Their hands brushed briefly and Sena was a little surprised to feel warmth shooting up his spine even though they had touched before of course – seeing how many times Shin had tackled Sena, of course.

"Um, thanks for the food," Sena said. "It was really good," he said.

"You ate it all?" Shin asked.

"Y-yeah," Sena said.

Shin looked satisfied. "Good," he said. "Let's go," he told Sena.

Sena nodded and followed Shin towards the square run field where they would be practicing again.

As they left, Sena saw Ikkyuu coming through the gates and walking towards Monta who was holding Honjo's glove in his hands where he sat at one end of the field. But when Ikkyuu came near, Monta looked up with a grin and put the glove down, so Sena didn't think much more of it as he turned back to follow Shin. He had Shin and his own training to think of right now.

--

There was really no easy way to build stamina and speed for Sena except to continuously practice running at light speed with Shin and build his strength up that way. The afternoon was basically a repeat of their morning training except longer as Shin forced Sena to run at a faster pace than his usual jog for quite some time around the square track, before they upped the speed to light speed and continued that.

By the time practice was done, Sena was exhausted and his legs felt like liquid as he dragged them back to the locker room. He wasn't the only one who felt that way since just everyone else on the team seemed equally exhausted – the exceptions being the girls who hadn't trained, Komusubi who was always pumped up, and Taki who was twirling away like always.

Monta was frowning as he changed.

"U-um, how was your training with Ikkyuu-san?" Sena asked Monta. He still felt like something was wrong with his friend but Monta wouldn't say anything.

"Ah, I didn't do so well today," Monta admitted. "But tomorrow, I'll have power MAX!" he said, pumping his fist in the air.

Sena wondered if it was just his imagination or if the cheer sounded a little weaker than usual, but Monta was already stuffing his things into his duffel bag.

"I'm taking off first!" Monta told Sena. "See you tomorrow!"

"Okay!" Sena said as Monta left the locker room.

Sena wondered if he should go talk to Suzuna about this. Suzuna had been there when they went to scout Teikoku High too so maybe she would have an opinion about Monta's slightly off behavior too.

Sena was still lost in thought when a shadow suddenly fell over him and Sena was startled to see Shin handing him some cool packs.

"Don't let your muscles swell," Shin told him.

"Y-yeah, thanks," Sena said as thoughts of Monta were quickly pushed to the back of his mind.

It was so rare for Shin to be spending time with Sena like this outside of actual games. He could worry about Monta later.

--

By the third day of practice, news of the special football training sessions had spread and quite a few curious spectators and fans had come to watch the afternoon practice since so many aces were gathered at Deimon.

Sena watched as Taki waltzed across the field, waving at the audience.

"Oh, thank you for coming to watch me!" Taki beamed. "Was that an autograph you wanted?"

A loud guitar chord accompanied that as Akaba jammed by himself behind Taki.

"Isn't this supposed to be practice? Practice!!" Kotaro was shouting at him though Akaba made no indication that he had heard Kotaro at all.

It seemed that Kotaro was one of the spectators today, Sena thought, or just here to tag along and more than likely, to annoy Musashi. Musashi didn't have a trainer since there didn't seem to be anyone who could really help him improve on his kicks more than just his own solo training could. Musashi had his own practice routine and even without a trainer, he had been working out just as hard as the rest of them, setting ball after ball on the field in a line as he kicked them one after another through the goal posts. Musashi had been moving the distance back further and further too, Sena noticed.

"Fuu…" Akaba said. "Your music sense…doesn't match ours," he said.

That seemed to make Kotaro even madder as he started spitting furiously at Akaba and his guitar. "Music has nothing to do with it!!" he shouted.

"Hey!" Akaba protested at the spitting.

And since it seemed to provoke a reaction, Kotaro spit even more.

"Uh…" Sena wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.

Of course as Sena had expected, as soon as Musashi came out of the locker room, Kotaro shifted attention to him as he whipped out his comb and brushed back his hair, striking a pose.

"Musashi! I challenge you to a kicking contest!" Kotaro began.

And as soon as Kotaro stopped spitting, Akaba began playing guitar again.

Kotaro lost concentration with his challenge as he turned back to Akaba. "Stop playing in the middle of the field!!" he shouted. "Play _football_!"

"Eyeshield!"

Sena jumped at the booming voice and saw Ootawara grinning at him with a finger up his nose. Shin was right next to him of course.

"Did you warm up?" Shin asked, getting right to the point.

"Y-yes!" Sena answered as anticipation and contentment welled up at him like it always did at the sight of Shin.

"M-MASTER!"

Sena found himself wobbling as Komusubi suddenly dashed past him, nearly bowling him over, as he ran towards Ootawara with a determined look on his face.

"Oh!" Ootawara let out a loud fart. "Let's go train!"

Sena turned towards Shin with a flustered smile. "U-um, should we go?" he suggested.

Shin nodded and headed for their field.

They had eaten dinner together the night before from the bento that Shin brought. Today, Shin had also brought him breakfast and lunch again too during their morning training session and Sena expected, they'd probably eat again later tonight. Being like this every day with his friends and now Shin, Sena smiled and thought he didn't mind if it continued like this every day. He didn't mind at all.

--

tbc? Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

The Way To a Touchdown

Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 belongs to Inagaki Riichiro and Murata Yusuke, etc.

Notes: Thanks for the reviews!! There's more ShinSena in this chapter!

--

On the fourth day of training, Sakuraba came to Deimon High with Shin and Ootawara – and the number of curious spectators nearly tripled. This was especially true since Sakuraba's hair had started growing out again and he had shaved off his goatee once it looked like Miracle Ito wasn't going to hound him about going back to Jari Pro anymore. That meant nearly all the girls at Deimon High came out to see him – after all, it wasn't every day a popular former-idol came to Deimon High.

"SAKURABA-KUN!!" came a cheer from the stands as soon as Sakuraba entered the field.

Sakuraba jumped and not-so-successfully attempted to hide behind Shin and Ootawara.

"Sakuraba-san!" Sena said, surprised when he went up to them.

"Eh, Kobayakawa-kun," Sakuraba gave a rather nervous laugh, looking frazzled.

"You came to u-um, watch today?" Sena asked, darting rather nervous looks at the crowd of fangirls.

"Y-yeah…" Sakuraba looked just as nervous if not more so, but of course Sakuraba had good reason to feel so nervous. "If you don't mind." Sakuraba laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"O-Of course not!" Sena answered. Well, it wasn't like they didn't already attract attention anyways since any time he and Shin ran the square run at light speed, people always stopped to stare.

Football was becoming a lot more popular at Deimon High now that the team was going to the Christmas Bowl.

It felt nice as always to be training with Shin, and Shin never seemed to notice who was watching him or let it distract him. Sena was usually focused during the game once it started, but he still had a hard time dealing with too much attention when he wasn't playing. But that was all void when it came to training with Shin since Shin always put complete effort into everything so Sena wouldn't be able to keep up if he didn't concentrate completely too.

When they slowed from an hour of light-speed running for a break, Sakuraba was waiting on the sidelines with bottles of water for them. "Wow, that's really something to watch!" Sakuraba said. "Just as expected from Shin…and Eyeshield, of course," Sakuraba added quickly.

"My towel is in the locker room," Shin said and took of jogging towards the locker rooms to retrieve it, leaving Sakuraba and Sena behind.

Sena drank some more water, not really knowing what to say to Sakuraba. It felt even more awkward when another round of loud squealing came from the fangirls in the stands. Sena sometimes wondered why Shin didn't get that many cheers. Even though Sakuraba was an idol, he also had his football fans like Torakichi and his group. However, the only people who seemed to care about Shin were the actual football players and professional recruiters even though Shin was so obviously the ace of the Ojo White Knights and the former record setter for high school in the 40-yard dash. Sena didn't understand why Shin didn't have more spectator fans especially since on top of his skill and talent, Shin was pretty decent looking in terms of face, height, and build – certainly not as model-material as Sakuraba, but definitely attractive.

"Um, so you've known Shin since high school?" Sena asked Sakuraba. Sakuraba and Shin were both second years but they had joined the football team as soon as they entered high school.

"From junior high actually," Sakuraba said, smiling. "We went to the same school and always ended up sitting next to each other because of alphabetical order," Sakuraba explained.

"Oh!" Sena hadn't known that. For some reason he hadn't expected it even though he did see Shin and Sakuraba together a lot. Of course nearly every time they were together, they were also with other members of their football team so Sena hadn't thought much of it. He certainly hadn't expected them to be childhood friends and he realized suddenly, there seemed to be a lot about Shin he didn't know.

"That's why we joined the football team," Sakuraba continued. "When we went to highschool, we were just looking for a club to join and the football team told me to sign up – because of my height, I mean—" Sakuraba flushed pink.

"No, it's okay," Sena said. He knew he was short and Sakuraba never bragged about anything – not even being an idol so he wasn't really offended.

Sakuraba gave a rather embarrassed laugh. "Sorry," he said.

"So you joined the football team?" Sena asked. He wanted to hear how Shin had joined.

Sakuraba nodded. "We were together so they got Shin to sign up too," he said. "Shin actually didn't care much about football before we joined…" he said.

That took Sena by surprise. "Really?" he asked.

"Well, we never played it in junior high or anything…" Sakuraba said. "And Shin is just…quiet and calm," he said.

Well, Sena couldn't argue with that though those weren't exactly the adjectives he'd choose to describe Shin.

"He didn't attract much attention in class and he didn't have that many friends but Shogun, I mean, Coach Shoji… he really worked Shin hard and the entire team started relying on him," Sakuraba explained.

Sena was beginning to understand what Sakuraba was trying to tell him and it was a feeling he knew too. Before joining the football team, Sena had been a nobody – even worse than that, actually, since he had been the loser and wimp of his class. Joining the football club was the best thing that had ever happened to Sena. It was the first time he had ever felt _needed_. The first time Sena ever played and even decided to stay, it was because Hiruma and Kurita needed him on the team. And that was a nice feeling - having a purpose.

"Actually with Shin, probably any sport he went out for, he'd do great in," Sakuraba admitted with a sigh. "The team just got lucky he tried out for football first."

Sena smiled too. "W-well, Sakuraba-san too, er, the Ojo White Knights are lucky they have you too!" Sena said a bit awkwardly.

Sakuraba laughed. "Not really. I'm just average," Sakuraba said. "But I'm not going to stay this way. I'll catch up to Shin someday and surpass him!" he said, determination shining bright in his eyes.

Sena felt the feeling welling up in himself too. It seemed that Shin had that type of effect on people. He made them want to get stronger and better to face him equally. There wasn't a bit of arrogance or pride in Shin either – just unwavering determination, confidence, and honesty. Sena really did admire him a lot.

Shin was heading back towards them, wiping his face with his towel now.

"And Kobayakawa-kun," Sakuraba said. "Everyone expected Shin to play well so he did, but I don't think he ever really cared about football until you came," he told Sena.

Sena felt his face flight bright. "I-I-I don't think—"

"That last match… when you defeated Shin…" Sakuraba had a soft look in his eyes. "That was the first time I've ever seen him look like he enjoyed football."

But Shin was back by now and Sena quickly shut up, darting Shin a guilty look even though he didn't think Shin would really mind that Sakuraba had just been telling Sena about him.

Shin looked at Sena, meeting his eyes. "Let's go again," he said.

--

That night, Sena was invited to Shin's house for dinner.

"Y-your house?" Sena stared at Shin, stunned when Shin suggested it.

Shin nodded seriously. "You're busy?" he asked.

"N-no! I'm not, um, I mean, I can go!" Sena said quickly.

Shin looked satisfied and began walking out of the school with his duffel in one hand and the empty cooler he had given to Sena earlier that day in the other. Sakuraba had left a few hours ago for training with Takami, and Ootawara was going to stay with Komusubi and Kurita at Kurita's temple for a sleepover with early morning training. That meant Sena and Shin were going to ride the train alone to wherever it was Shin lived.

And Sena really was very much looking forward to it. He had never thought much about Shin or what Shin was like outside of football – his family, his life, his home – and he found now, he really was very interested. But Sena also wondered why Shin was inviting him over to his house when Shin could just as easily bring a bento to school.

"U-um, Shin-san?" Sena asked even though he was a little scared to.

Shin grunted.

"I just…I was just wondering er, why didn't you just…um, bring a bento again today?" Sena asked.

"I have tapes," Shin said.

"Huh? Tapes?" Sena asked, completely thrown for the loop.

"Videos of games," Shin explained. "You'll learn from watching," he told Sena.

"Oh," Sena said and smiled. He wasn't sure if he was really happy or a little disappointed that that was the reason. Sena had never actually heard Shin analyze games or strategies before, and he really did want to see how Shin viewed those games. At the same time, Sena wondered, was football seriously all Shin ever thought about?

It sure seemed like it.

When the train stop was announced and Shin led Sena out onto the platform, Sena was surprised to see it was only one stop down from the one Sena usually got off.

"You live close to me!" Sena blurted out.

Shin looked sideways at him. "Where do you live?" he asked and Sena told him.

Of course their houses were still a bit of distance apart, but much closer than Sena had expected since Shin went all the way to Ojo for school. They even lived somewhat in the same neighborhood though on completely opposite sides of it, of course.

"How long have you lived here?" Sena asked curiously.

"I was born here," Shin answered as Sena brightened even more.

"Eh? Me too," Sena said. "I wonder if we ever saw each other before," he commented, smiling, before he remembered who he was talking to. "Um, I-I mean, since it's around the same neighborhood!" he said quickly.

"Maybe," Shin answered.

Shin's family was, as expected of his end of the neighborhood, a little better off than Sena's family but not by any big difference.

"Ara, Seijuro-kun, you brought a friend?" Shin's mother asked when Shin and Sena walked into the house.

"A-ah, ojamashimasu," Sena said, bowing as he took off his shoes and stumbled, following Shin up.

"This is Kobayakawa Sena," Shin told his mother. She was a small but striking woman, dressed in a pencil skirt and blouse, and still wearing enough makeup that Sena thought she probably worked though she seemed to be quite nice.

"Kobayakawa-kun? Nice to meet you," Shin's mother said warmly. "Did you have dinner yet, Seijuro-kun?" she asked.

"I'll make it, mother," Shin answered. "Kobayakawa is training with me until the Christmas Bowl. He'll be eating dinner here sometimes," he said.

Shin's mother nodded. "All right, then. Let me know if you need anything," she said and walked away again.

Sena looked curiously around as he followed Shin down the hallway. Their house really wasn't too much bigger than Sena's own, but where Sena's house was quite homely with furniture that had grown up with him, mismatched tablecloths, and cluttered kitchen counters that held pencil cases stuffed with pens that were out of ink, Shin's house was much more bare in comparison. It looked very modern with so much empty space, and the living room that Shin led him to had two leather couches, a television, and a glass table with a metal decorative vase on it. Some black and white photographs hung on the wall along with a large family portrait that showed Shin's father, mother, someone who Sena assumed was Shin's brother, and a Shin that looked a few years younger than he was now.

"You have a brother?" Sena asked, looking at the picture.

Shin looked up too at it. "He's studying abroad in America," Shin answered. His brother looked somewhat like Shin though thinner and he wore glasses.

"Oh…" Sena said, wanting to ask more but not quite daring to.

"Have a seat. I'll make dinner," Shin said.

"A-ah," Sena did as told, feeling a little awkward as he sat down. "There are tapes there," Shin gestured to one of the tall mahogany cabinets placed by the television set before he left the room again.

Sena took that as an invitation to go to the cabinets to dig around. The top shelf held a row of movie DVDs but all the shelves beneath that were full of tapes labeled by match and season. Several of the shelves were filled with Ojo matches but Sena was surprised to find that at the bottom of the cabinet, an entire row was dedicated to Deimon games. The tape dated earliest was the very first Deimon vs. Ojo game during the spring Tokyo Tournament – the first time Sena had played against Shin.

A little nervous and embarrassed, Sena took that one out and put it into the VCR as he powered on the television. It flickered and then the game began.

Sena watched and remembered back to the time when the team had only been him, Hiruma, and Kurita with the support players. He watched as he was tackled for the first time by Shin, brought down heavily to the ground. And then watched as it happened over and over again. He remembered how Hiruma had decided it was a hopeless game and called it quits. He remembered asking Hiruma, timidly and hopefully if they could continue playing because Sena had wanted, for the first time in his life, to do something for himself that would make that linebacker who was so powerful look at him. He remembered running as fast as he could to get past Shin and somehow or other, making it past into a touchdown. He remembered Shin challenging him for the finals of the Christmas Bowl.

It had been nearly a year since then, Sena thought, and he could see the difference in them all. How much Hiruma and Kurita had improved. How much Shin had grown and improved too. And how much Sena, himself, had gotten stronger – he was still small and still skinny but not as small and weak as he had been.

Shin came back into the room just as the game finished, holding two plates of food.

"S-Shin-san!" Sena said and was surprised to hear his voice coming out as a croak. His nose was stuffy too, and Sena realized, with horror, that he was crying.

Shin frowned. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Sena turned away, blinking very fast as he tried to not-so-obviously wipe his face. "N-nothing! It's nothing!" he said quickly, recovering as he turned back.

Shin frowned but he didn't say anything as he sat down on the floor in front of the table across from Sena. Sena quickly clambered down from the couch, whacking his knee against the table, before he sat down to join Shin.

Sena laughed sheepishly as he picked up the chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu," he said after Shin and began to eat. As expected, there was a lot of meat again just as Shin had advised Sena to eat before, but also fish, brown rice, and vegetables.

Since Shin didn't speak during the meal, Sena didn't either, not sure if it was just Shin being quiet or if Shin didn't like talking during meals. He did sort of wonder, though and asked after they finished eating.

"Shin-san? You make all your own meals?" Sena asked tentatively. He knew Shin planned them, of course, but he had assumed that his mother probably made them or Shin bought them somewhere or something. But judging from the way his mother had acted and how long Shin had stayed in the kitchen, maybe it really was Shin who was cooking.

Shin gave a short nod. "I make my own meals. My mother doesn't have time to cook," he said.

"Oh, she works, right?" Sena asked.

"Yes," Shin answered.

He didn't offer any more information and Sena thought it would be too impolite to ask, so he left it at that even though it was a little difficult for him to imagine. His own mother stayed at home to take care of all the housework and she was always there anytime Sena needed anything. Usually he ate breakfast and dinner with both his parents and sometimes all three meals with them on the weekends when everyone was home – that was, before football began taking over Sena's life and he began to go out a lot more often.

Even though Sena was an only child, he had Mamori who was like an older sister, and both his parents who cared deeply for him. Although Shin had an older brother, he wasn't even home and Shin's mother hadn't appeared again since she greeted them at the door. Sena wondered what kind of a home life Shin had had and thought back to Sakuraba's words again earlier that day.

Shin cleared away the dishes and brought back a plate full of fruit, setting it in front of Sena before he went to the cabinet and took out one of the tapes.

"We'll start with your last game against the Hakushu Dinosaurs," Shin said, ejecting the last tape and putting the new one in.

The image came onto the screen as the video began to play, but it was a little fuzzy and the color needed adjusting.

Shin, though, just stared at the television blankly.

"Shin-san?" Sena asked when Shin didn't move to fix it.

"It's broken," Shin said, frowning.

"Huh? No, let me see…" Sena said as he got up and went to the television. He pressed the tracking settings on the VCR, watching the screen until the image was clear again. "It was just the tracking," Sena said.

Shin looked surprised. "Tracking?"

Oh right. Sena remembered the incident at the sushi shop last time. Could it be…

"Um, Shin-san," Sena asked tentatively. "You know how to use a VCR, right?" he asked.

Shin nodded. "I can watch and tape football games on it," he said. "The button with one arrow starts it, the button with two reverse arrows rewinds it, the button with two forward arrows skips ahead, the button with the square stops it, the button with the red circle records," he listed.

"Geh," Sena thought. Shin knew only the very basics of how to use a VCR and only because it was related to football. In some ways, Sena thought, Shin was a little bit like Taki…

He found it both a little funny and a little scary that Shin could be so talented at everything else and yet totally technology incompetent and strong enough to break anything he touched. And as they settled back to watch the game, Sena found himself feeling a little less nervous around him.

As the evening passed and they shared the plate of fruit and discussed Sena's games and techniques, and the techniques of other running backs from other teams, Sena began to relax and enjoy himself. And as Sena watched Shin analyzing the games and talking, he thought Sakuraba was wrong. It was obvious in Shin's face and his voice that he loved football.

"There," Shin pointed to the screen, his eyes shining. "That cut is what you want from the square run we're doing now," he said.

They were watching the game of a professional NFL team and Sena realized he had been staring at Shin's face instead of the game for some time now. Luckily, Shin was completely wrapped up in the games and he didn't seem to have noticed.

Shin reached for the remote to rewind the scene, fumbling in his hurry, and—

_ZZST!_

Shin and Sena both stared down at the remote whose pause button was jammed so far into the remote that the plastic all around it was cracked. When Shin took his finger away, the entire back of the remote came off since the front no longer fit right.

Shin frowned at the remote like he couldn't understand why it had just fallen apart in his hands and Sena couldn't help himself.

He clapped his hands over his mouth and laughed.

--

tbc? Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

The Way To a Touchdown

Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 belongs to Inagaki Riichiro and Murata Yusuke, etc.

--

Sena got up early, dressing in his jogging clothes, and went outside early the next day though instead of heading to school, he jogged down the streets and further from the station towards the neighborhood park that was about a half hour's jog away.

The sky was still rather gray when Sena got there and the street lamps still glowed dimly though it was light enough that their illumination didn't help much. Coming from the opposite direction of the street, Sena saw Shin jogging towards him and went to meet him. He found himself unusually eager and happy to see Shin this morning – especially since last night had been so enjoyable together.

"Shin-san!" Sena said quietly when he got close enough. It was so early and still dark that he automatically spoke quietly.

"Kobayakawa," Shin greeted him.

Neither of them slowed their jog – only turned to start running in the same direction.

The morning air was fresh and it felt good to be just running. Thinking back, it really hadn't been all too long ago since Sena had been running from fear of being beat up as a gofer. Not even a full year had passed yet but so much had happened since entering high school – joining the football team, meeting Shin, becoming a real running back for his team, and now he was on his way to playing at the Christmas Bowl.

They reached the outskirts of the park but since Shin didn't stop, Sena just followed his lead as they continued down the street. Further down the street was Sena's elementary school that he had gone to with Riku and Mamori, though if Shin had gone there too, Sena didn't know. At least, he didn't recall ever knowing an upperclassman like Shin and he thought that Riku, at least, would probably have mentioned it if Shin went to the same school since Shin was so fast.

As they passed the school and continued further down the street, Sena could hear the freeway that was already busy though it was early in the morning still. When they reached the end of the street, Shin ran up the concrete steps leading up on the embankment and as Sena followed him up and they continued their run, Sena looked over at the cars zooming by on the freeway. He could remember the second time he and Shin spoke to each other when Shin realized immediately he was Eyeshield 21 even though Shin hadn't even seen his face before.

That, of course, made Sena a bit happy though mostly, he had just been startled that Shin had recognized him even never having seen his face before. In fact, Shin had only seen him for that brief one game and he already recognized Sena. It made Sena even happier when Shin openly acknowledged his ability and told him that they could chase down the muggers that had stolen Monta's money. Of course it was mostly Shin and his spear tackle that caught the muggers but Sena had helped and he could still remember how cool Shin had looked back then, as though racing a motorcycle and tackling two people off of one was a normal thing.

"S-Shin-san?" Sena spoke up quietly.

Shin grunted.

"Do you...come here often to train?" Sena asked. "S-Since we met here before…um, with the motorcycle and the robbers…." Sena found himself turning red and running a little faster. Who knew if Shin even remembered that – well, it was a rather hard to forget incident – but this was Shin and it probably hadn't even been a big deal for him or anything.

"Three times a week usually," Shin answered. "Varied terrain is good for training."

Sena snuck a look at Shin as they continued to run. Even now that Sena knew him a little better, Shin was just as cool as Sena thought back then. Even cooler than before. Though Sena had beaten Shin in the last game, Shin was still the athlete that Sena most admired. He didn't want to be like Shin anymore, Sena thought – Shin was the one who had told him not to wish for that because Sena had his own strengths and abilities. But Sena thought he would never stop looking up to Shin – for being an awesome athlete, of course, but also for his incredible inner strength and spirit. And how running wasn't the only thing Shin was good at. And how Shin was so driven and determined once he put his mind to it.

Shin was someone Sena really admired, and in the beginning, that had been enough for Sena to just think of him and wait for another chance to come when he could prove himself to Shin. Now, though, the game was done and while they would have other chances to play again and they still had their rivalry, it wasn't the same anymore.

If Shin had been somewhat put on a pedestal by Sena, now Sena didn't feel content doing only that now. Admiring Shin was something Sena would never stop doing, but he wanted to know more than just that. He wanted to know what Shin was like outside of just the occasional games the way he knew Monta and Mamori and Hiruma and Kurita and all the others.

Hiruma probably hadn't exactly intended helping Sena out in this case by making them train together, but it was an opportunity all the same and who knew, after this, how often they would be able to spend time together.

When they stopped, Sena was a little startled to recognize Shin's house.

"Come in. We'll shower and go to the stop from here," Shin told Sena.

"E-eh? At your house?" Sena stuttered.

Shin hadn't mentioned this before.

"It's closer to the station than yours," Shin answered. "You don't want to?"

"No, I mean, it's fine," Sena quickly answered. He didn't want Shin to get the wrong impression by accident and it wasn't like Sena didn't want to or anything. "I-I just didn't expect it…"

"You have your school uniform and books?" Shin asked Sena.

"I left them at school," Sena said. He had been spending so much time at school training anyways that he just left his school uniform in his locker to change into before going to class. As for books, Sena hadn't brought his of course, but Juumonji, Kuroki, and Togano were in his class at school so he could probably borrow from them or someone else in class.

Shin nodded as he led Sena inside.

Though it was still so early, Shin's house was silent and the only shoes left at the entrance were the jogging shoes Sena and Shin had just taken off. Shin's parents had already left, Sena thought, though it was this early in the morning.

Shin led him up the stairs to the second story and Sena couldn't help looking around curiously at everything. At one end of the short hallway, Shin opened one of the doors and when Sena followed him inside, he realized this was actually Shin's bedroom.

Plain and mostly undecorated, there was a neatly made bed with blue sheets in one corner and a desk and bookshelf beside it. On the desk was a pencil holder and a framed picture of Shin's family identical to the one that hung in their living room. There were several textbooks and even more books about football set on the bookshelf. There were a few more shelves that had been nailed into the walls that held various different trophies, plaques, and medals and on the wall hung a picture of the Ojo White Knight team. By the window, there was a short metal rack stacked with weights of varying sizes. All in all, basically the type of room Sena had expected from Shin.

Shin didn't seem to care that Sena had just followed him in as he went to the closet and got out some neatly folded clothes that he handed to Sena.

"A-Are you sure this is okay?" Sena asked, stuttering as he took them.

"It's fine," Shin said as he led Sena out of the room and to the hallway where he opened a closet and took out a towel, handing that to Sena too, before pointing him the way to the bathroom.

Sena nodded gratefully and scurried in, shutting the door behind him.

There really wasn't much time so Sena quickly stripped down and got in the shower, washing the sweat off of himself, before getting out and getting dressed again. All he could really think about was that he had seen Shin's room, he was using Shin's bathroom, he was in Shin's house again, and he was about to be going to school wearing Shin's clothes.

But when he finished putting on the pants, shirt, and sweater that Shin had given him, Sena stared in dismay at himself in the mirror. This was even worse than the way he looked when he started out the year in the school uniform Mamori had bought for him several sizes too big. Even if Shin wasn't considered extremely tall like Sakuraba or even particularly big like Ootawara, Shin was certainly bigger and taller than Sena by enough because even though Shin's clothes fit Shin just fine, Sena was absolutely swimming in them.

At least, Sena thought, Shin had given him sweat pants so the elastic kept the pants pooling at his ankles so Sena wouldn't have to roll them up or something.

"I guess there's no help for it," Sena sighed. He hadn't thought to bring a change of clothes with him and he didn't want to change back into his dirty clothes again. Plus, Sena thought, these were Shin's clothes and he could smell the clean detergent and felt comfortable and warm in them.

When Sena went downstairs, Shin was finishing up his breakfast. He looked up when Sena came in though he didn't say anything about Sena's ridiculous appearance. Of course, being Shin, Sena didn't think he really cared and maybe didn't even notice.

"I'm done," Sena said.

Shin nodded, getting up. "Breakfast," he told Sena, gesturing to a second plate left on the table and then went upstairs where Sena heard the bathroom door clicking shut a moment later.

As he sat down and began to eat, Sena found himself smiling as he looked around Shin's house and ate, waiting for him.

--

They got on different trains at the station since Deimon was in one direction and Ojou was in the opposite, but Sena had a packed lunch again and a promise to meet with Shin that afternoon.

As expected, everyone began to stare as soon as Sena walked through the school gates.

"Eh? Is that a student?" He heard a girl whisper.

"What's with that outfit? A gangster?" Another whispered.

Sena chuckled nervously and quickly headed towards the football locker room as fast as he could.

Unfortunately, he and Shin weren't the only people who had early morning training and the three Huh-huh brothers, Mamori, and Monta were also in the locker room when Sena darted inside.

Everyone fell silent when they saw him.

"S-Sena?" Mamori was the first to speak up as she stared wide-eyed at him. "What are you wearing?"

Monta dropped the banana he had been eating. "Eh? A new fashion statement?" he asked, staring at Sena's clothes. "They're kinda big, aren't they?"

The Huh-huh brothers burst out laughing.

"What are you trying to do, Sena? Dress tough?" Juumonji laughed.

"Hey, he's trying to be all macho!" Togano grinned.

"Yeah, you just need to add a couple of chains and some bling to that outfit and you'll be set!" Kuroki guffawed.

The three of them exchanged looks and then burst out laughing even harder.

Sena turned red.

"No! They're Shin-san's clothes!" Sena said quickly, especially flustered from Mamori's disapproving stare. "We had training this morning and I didn't have time to go home to change clothes so he lent me some…" he said.

Mamori looked relieved. "Oh, that's all right then. They are rather big," she said.

Monta let it go pretty easily too though Sena had expected maybe a little more teasing from him. "I'll see you at lunch, Sena!" he said as he also left. Even more to Sena's surprise, Monta didn't say anything to Mamori even though they were both heading towards the school.

Sena quickly went to change.

And the Huh-huh brothers just kept laughing.

--

When Shin showed up for afternoon practice, Sena decided he would ask if Shin wanted to eat dinner at his house today. After all, it was only fair that they switched off and they could just stop by the supermarket on the way back to get ingredients.

Shin probably wasn't even interested in Sena's house, but Sena still kind of wanted to see Shin's reactions to it anyways. When Shin got to Deimon, Sena would thank him for the lunch, and then suggest they have dinner at Sena's house if Shin hadn't already brought something for dinner.

"H-Hello, Shin-san," Sena said when Shin showed up.

Shin nodded.

"U-um, thank you for the lunch," Sena said. "W-W-W-Would you, um, you…"

"Sena! Shin! Today you're going to add a new routine!" Doburaku shouted at them from across the field and waved.

Sena sighed, losing his nerve as he followed Shin over. Well, they were here all afternoon. He could ask Shin later.

But later never seemed to come as training continued. The added exercise that Doburaku wanted them to do was actually a weird sort of obstacle course he had constructed on the field that basically required them to chase each other again except that having to run at light speed through obstacles and balancing on beams made it all even more difficult. That required such complete concentration that Sena couldn't even think about talking while training like that, and with Doburaku watching them, of course it was even more impossible.

And every time they stopped for a break, something always seemed to come up so Sena never had an opportunity to ask. The first time, Suzuna came by with water bottles and towels for them and while Sena liked her and enjoyed her company, he did wish she didn't stay so long so Sena could ask Shin. The second time they stopped for a break, Mamori and Hiruma came by while Hiruma and Doburaku began discussing ways Sena could improve more and use Shin more efficiently as a trainer while Mamori fussed and gave them cold packs to help relieve strain from the extreme training.

It was nearing five in the afternoon, and Sena was wondering if he could find some time to talk to Shin after practice maybe, when the commotion started on the other side of the field where Ikkyuu and Monta had been practicing.

"What the hell? You, since the beginning," Ikkyuu was shouting at Monta. "You're oni distracted!" He slapped Monta across the back. "I don't get it! The only one not motivated is you, Monta!"

"Hey wait, calm down, Ikkyuu…" One of the others who had also been distracted from training by the commotion was already trying to calm the pair down.

Ikkyuu looked absolutely livid, though. "But from the very beginning, that guy… he's just being weak!" Ikkyuu snapped, pointing at Monta. "And I lost to a guy like that – doesn't it just make me look stupid?"

Monta looked even more upset than Ikkyuu as he stood, taking the criticism all silently. His head was bowed as he held his football helmet.

"I'm sorry…" Monta gritted his teeth. "Even though you went through the trouble of coming for personal training… I'm sorry!" Monta shouted and then turned and sprinted off the field.

Sena stared after him for a moment. He knew something was wrong but he hadn't talked to Monta about it, distracted by his own training and Shin and because Monta didn't seem to want to talk. Sena should have known better. He was supposed to be Monta's best friend. He had to go after him.

Sena began to run after Monta, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. When he turned back, he saw Shin was looking at him.

"Shin-san! Monta, he's—I'm sorry, I can't train right now, I need to find him," Sena said even though he knew there was no good excuse for abandoning practice. Shin was the type of person who took training seriously and probably wouldn't stop for something like this. But even if he did lose Shin's respect, he couldn't just leave Monta alone like that.

"I'm sorry…" Sena said, looking down, unable to meet Shin's eyes, and then he took off running after Monta.

Monta had too much of a head start but Sena guessed right and when he arrived at the Tokyo Stadium, Monta was already standing there, holding Honjou's baseball glove.

"Oh good… I thought you'd come here…" Sena panted, relieved that he had found Monta.

Monta looked down at his glove as they fell into step together, walking around the Tokyo Stadium by the railed walkway.

Monta was silent for quite some time, just looking at the glove, before he finally spoke up. "You know, I've always…always wanted to become the second Honjou," he said, looking down at the glove again. "The most important thing in the world for me is this glove – the only connection I have to Honjou-san," he said.

Sena didn't know what to say as he listened.

"For ten years, every day, I swore on this glove to keep going with max effort, and I thought I was getting closer to Honjou-san… but… Honjou Taka – every day he grew up under the personal care of the real deal," Monta said, his voice trembling and his eyes wide. "At the Christmas Bowl I…I will…I will be crushed by the Honjou family…"

The tears that had been brimming at Monta's eyes finally overflowed.

Watching that kind of despair, Sena didn't know what to do. He himself had never had a dream like that before and after he found football, he had worked hard but not for the years and years that Monta had practiced. When it came to the person he admired, Shin, Shin had been the one who told him not to try to be like him, but to be himself. Seen in perspective, Sena really was lucky.

Monta let out a bitter laugh. "It's hopeless. I'm thinking to myself I'll be crushed even before the match. Ikkyuu-senpai saw right through me," he said. "I can't do it…really… I sent a mail to Hiruma-senpai just before this," he told Sena, looking down.

"I asked him to remove me from the members' list for the Christmas Bowl."

Sena's eyes widened. "What are you saying… after getting this far!" he said, unable to keep silent for any longer.

"Because I can't take play right now!!" Monta shouted, unleashing his full frustration and fury now that Sena had spoken up. "I know my own situation the best! I won't be able to catch a single thing at the match! I was always aiming for Honjo… but now, why Taka? Why am I Honjou-san's enemy?"

He grabbed the baseball mitt in both hands. "For ten years I was with this glove … there's just no way… I can't fight against Honjou-san…" he said.

Sena didn't know what to do. The only person that Sena wanted to be like, he also wanted to compete against. There was no one like Honjou for Sena and he couldn't imagine Monta's despair now.

But Sena knew Monta loved to catch and loved football. Monta was his best friend. And if Monta wasn't there…

"If Monta isn't there, there's no way we can fight Teikoku," Sena said, knowing it was both true and also wanting to motivate Monta. "What will you do about everyone?" he asked. "Isn't there something more important that this glove…"

Sena reached to touch the baseball glove but he didn't realize Monta's grip wasn't firm on it. As Sena's fingers brushed it, the baseball glove slipped from Monta's hand, over the railing and right in front of a truck on the street below.

It was flattened beneath heavy tires as Sena and Monta watched, horrified, and then Monta was racing down towards the street.

"My glove… Honjou-san…my glove!" he muttered as he went.

Sena could see the glove lying tattered in the road, completely unusable with busted seams and padding everywhere.

To Sena's horror, Monta ignored the oncoming traffic, apparently planning to leap right out onto the road to retrieve his ruined glove and Sena dashed forward, catching Monta around the waist right in time before Monta could run out to the road.

"Wait! It's dangerous, Monta! With that traffic…" Sena pulled him back to the sidewalk.

And he knew Monta was angry and frustrated, but Sena still didn't expect the sudden punch that Monta dealt him to the eye when Sena's arms loosened.

Sena's head snapped back as Monta raised his fists again. "What could someone like you understand, Sena?" Monta shouted. "Honjou-san is my everything! There's nothing more important to me than this glove in this world!" he shouted.

Sena knew he couldn't understand but he knew he couldn't let Monta cling to this glove so tightly that he gave himself up because of it.

He struggled as Monta tried to punch him again, managing to push away his arm and grab the other.

"The most important thing…" Sena gasped, struggling. "More than this glove…" he dodged another punch. "Is winning the Christmas Bowl with everyone, right?" Sena shouted as he let Monta's arm go and punched him back.

The loosened grip left Monta's arms free as his hard knuckles met Sena's face again, and Sena was punching him back too, his fists meeting any bit of Monta's face and body that he could reach even as Sena felt pain stinging his own body everywhere.

"More than Honjou-san! More than the glove! The most important thing is the championship!" Sena shouted. "Am I wrong? Monta!"

He was crying too, he knew.

But Monta wasn't saying anything back. Monta didn't agree and he was going to give up football.

--

When Sena returned home late that night, his face was swollen and aching and he felt hopeless. It was a kind of hopelessness he had never felt before because unlike the hopelessness of losing a game, this was the hopelessness of losing a friend and being completely unable to help him. He had been unable to convince Monta not to quit and now Sena really didn't know what to do.

He knew Monta loved football and loved his catching game, but it was because of his very motivation for catching that now he couldn't do it anymore.

"Tadaima…" Sena said quietly as he trudged inside.

He didn't want his parents to see him beat up like this or they'd ask questions.

Sena began walking up towards his room when his mother came out of the living room.

"Ah! Sena, you're home—what happened to you?" she asked, gasping when she saw his face.

"Ah, um, nothing really—just—" Sena stopped short when a second person stepped out of the living room right behind his mother. "Shin-san?" he stared openly.

"Oh, yes, your friend came over with dinner for you," his mother beamed. "Ah, I didn't know you had good friends like this, Sena," she said although looking back at Sena, she immediately looked concerned again. "But your face, you—"

"I'll help him take care of it, Kobayakawa-san," Shin spoke up.

"Y-Yeah! Shin-san can help me!" Sena said quickly and grabbed Shin by his arm, pulling him upstairs to his room before his mother could say any more.

"S-Shin-san!" Sena said when they were alone. He bit his lip. "Are you…are you mad?" he asked timidly. Shin was the type of person who took responsibility and duty seriously so it was likely he had come to give Sena dinner even if he was angry at Sena.

"Why would I be?" Shin asked seriously as Sena looked up, a little surprised.

"B-Because I left practice…" Sena said.

Shin was the one who looked surprised this time. "Teammates are important," he said. "A team cannot be strong if one of its members is not in sync," he answered.

Sena pressed his lips together and willed his eyes to stop watering because crying in front of Shin would be really really embarrassing. He quickly went to his bookshelf to grab the first aid kit he had kept there ever since elementary school when he had frequently been bullied and beaten up. Of course with football now, he used it just about as much as before, but it had been awhile since his face got beat up like this.

"How is your receiver?" Shin asked.

Sena was surprised when he suddenly found Shin looming over him and taking the first aid kit as he gestured for Sena to sit down on the ground.

"He's…he's…Monta only started to practice catching because of Honjou-san… the baseball player," Sena found himself telling Shin everything as Shin carefully and efficiently disinfected and patched up his face and arms where bruises and some torn skin had also been left behind from the scuffle.

"But Monta—now Monta said he told Hiruma he was going to quit the team for the Christmas Bowl!" Sena said, finishing the story as Shin put the extra bandages and disinfectant away again. "And I don't know what to do…" Sena couldn't help it when the tears began to course down his face this time.

He was just so frustrated and helpless. Why was there nothing he could do? And now he was even crying in front of Shin who was the person he least wanted to show his weakness to.

Sena felt a touch to his head and froze, looking up at Shin who he realized had just touched his hair with a strange expression on his face.

"S-S-Sorry!!" Sena blurted out. "I didn't mean to… I just…um…"

Shin nodded as he stood. "Eat and sleep tonight. You will think better in the morning," he told Sena as he went to the door. "No morning practice tomorrow. The most important thing is an unflinching spirit," he told Sena, looking at him with exactly that honest, unwavering gaze. "I will be waiting," he said and left.

Sena stared at his closed bedroom door as he heard the front door click shut, and knew Shin had left.

Shin was right. Even now, Sena's own mind was all messed up. Everything had to be sorted out before either he or Monta could move on. But just how was he supposed to do that, Sena thought as he touched the bandage on his cheek.

--

tbc? Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

The Way To a Touchdown

Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 belongs to Inagaki Riichiro and Murata Yusuke, etc.

--

Sena woke to a cloudy morning that felt as depressing as he did. Even though he had followed Shin's advice, he still couldn't think of anything to help Monta with and if things continued this way, the team really would end up losing Monta.

He went to school sporting his patched up face, and after Monta showed up in pretty much the same condition, no one pried any more into the reason why they were so beat up.

By the time afternoon practice came, it was drizzling.

Shin didn't say anything as they trained, but Sena knew his own performance wasn't up to par because his eyes kept wandering to where Monta and Ikkyuu were practicing. At least Monta was still coming to practice but he was struggling all by himself because Honjou and his son were going to be his opponents this time. Worse, Sena had accidentally destroyed Honjou's glove that Monta had treasured for ten years.

Sena couldn't leave things like this. He had to do something to help Monta but what could he do? He remembered how Monta had told him how precious that glove was to him. At the very least, that glove… Although buying just another baseball glove wouldn't be good enough and it was impossible to get another glove from Honjou – especially now that he had retired – maybe there was something else Sena could give to Monta that had equal importance…maybe…

"Shin-san?" Sena spoke up where they stood together, taking a break. Shin had not criticized him at all today though Sena knew it was because Shin was waiting for him patiently. He had to do this to help Monta and to make it up to Shin as soon as possible.

"Can we…can we stop practice for now?" Sena asked. "There's something I need to do…"

Shin looked at him steadily and then nodded, taking off his helmet.

Sena bit his lip and found his throat suddenly tight, so grateful and thankful and fond of Shin, and then he nodded and ran for the locker room to change.

He was in front of Ojou Private High a half hour later, damp with drizzle but just in time to catch Sakuraba as he headed off of the muddy field.

"Excuse me, Sakuraba-san?" Sena said as Sakuraba turned.

"Kobayakawa-kun?" Sakuraba looked surprised to see him and even more surprised to see Sena's bandaged face.

"Um, there…there's something I'd like to ask you…" Sena said, looking desperately at him.

When Sena left a few minutes later, he also had a cardboard box that Sakuraba had given to him, as he ran to the place that was next closest to Ojou High.

"Deimon's Sena-kun?" Kisaragi answered the door, looking surprised to see Sena. "What happened?" he asked – no doubt even more surprised at Sena's wet, haggard appearance.

"Kisaragi-kun, um, there's something I'd like to ask you…" Sena said, panting.

Next were the Taiyo Sphinxes, and then the airport where Watt had told Sena to pick his package up. Like that, Sena spent the entire afternoon and rest of the night running from place to place until he had finally gathered everything he needed.

It was early morning when Sena tottered up to Monta's apartment, holding a full cardboard box. He was lucky because Monta was just getting ready to leave the building – no doubt to avoid Sena so he wouldn't have to see Sena on the way to school.

"Sena?" Monta asked, surprised when he saw Sena.

"Monta… um…" Sena looked up at him, relieved to have caught him before he went to school. "I'm sorry, Honjou-san's glove was ruined but…but I've come to bring replacement gloves," Sena apologized, putting the cardboard box down on the floor.

Monta stood silent as he looked at Sena for a moment.

"It's alright already, Sena…" Monta said finally. "I'm sorry for hitting you," he said and sighed, looking at the box. "Thanks, but there's no way anything could replace it no matter what kind of glove it is…" Monta said but Sena was already opening the box to show him the contents.

Inside was glove after dirty glove – many of them with various things scribbled on them.

_Oni sure victory!_

_Go for the nationals!_

"All the receivers you faced so far in catching battles," Sena said. "They…they gave them to me. They're the gloves they were using when they were playing against you… most of these are in bad shape already but…" Sena trailed off his nervous babbling, worried that even the gloves of Monta's football opponents wouldn't sway him. If this didn't work, Sena really had no more ideas.

But when Sena tentatively looked up at his friend, Monta was staring into the box with disbelief. He reached forward to pick up one of the gloves.

_I will defeat the Devil Backfire myself! Don't be defeated by some guys from Kansai!_

"Sakuraba-senpai's… and this one is Ikkyuu-senpai's…" Monta murmured, looking at the gloves. "Tetsuma-senpai…" he trailed off as he looked at the gloves one by one.

Monta swallowed. "Thanks, Sena," he said after a moment, his mouth firming into a line. "Can you come with me?"

Sena was exhausted from a full afternoon and night of constant travel, but he followed Monta to the beach where he had wanted to go. Monta still hadn't shown any indication of change even now.

They ended by the mouth of the Kuromisa riverbank where Sena had found Monta the first time, rejected by the baseball team. The river opened out to the sea where the waves crashed against the rocks. The breeze felt cool in the morning air.

"You know, I finally get it…what I've been trapped in for ten years," Monta said as he led the way, stopping at the edge of the bank where it rose high up above the water. "I've always wanted to become the second Honjou…" he said, looking down at the battered baseball glove he had apparently retrieved after their fight. The baseball glove was in bad shape and it looked like Monta had tried to patch it back together with glue and tape.

"But I'm not Taka," Monta said. "After all, I can't become someone else."

Monta lifted his head then, shouting into the roar of the sea. "I won't be the second generation of anyone! Raimon Tarou will become the world's strongest receiver!" he shouted even as the wind carried his voice away. "Thanks for everything until now, Honjou-san, but I have to surpass the god of catching too!"

"At the Christmas Bowl," Monta said, eyes firm and unwavering now, "I will defeat Honjou-san!"

Monta wielded his arm back and then threw the battered glove he had been keeping for ten years high into the air.

Sena watched as the glove arced in the air and slowly came down until it hit the water without a sound and disappeared beneath the waves.

--

"Catch! MAX!!"

That afternoon, Monta's catches were excellent and he beat Ikkyuu every time.

Sena felt ecstatically happy watching him and Ikkyuu competing though it seemed Ikkyuu was the happiest out of them all.

"You're just completely different from yesterday's loser attitude…" Ikkyuu said, breathing hard as Monta managed to steal another pass from him though Ikkyuu was grinning. "I don't understand you at all."

"Hey, fucking monkey," Hiruma held up a cell phone from inside his oxygen tank. "Then this 'Remove me from the members list for the Christmas Bowl' wuss mail you sent, you don't mind if I delete it, right?" Hiruma grinned.

"Yes! Sorry Hiruma-senpai!" Monta shouted.

Sena was relieved and happy to see Monta back to his usual, energetic self.

"This was side-tracked max!" Monta said. "Please just destroy it I, ah—"

A loud barrage of bullets drowned out the rest of what Mont was going to say as Hiruma shot the phone to pieces with an assault rifle. "Instead of 170, now I only have 169 cell phones!" he said.

"What are you using so many for?" Mamori said as everyone else stared rather speechlessly at him.

"Evil deeds no matter how you think about it," Sena heard Juumonji saying to Kuroki and Togano.

Of course now that everything was back on track, Sena could concentrate on his practice with Shin again. And it seemed like Shin was even stricter and more serious about practice than before, because that afternoon, Sena was tackled more times than he had been in any of their other practices so far. Sena wasn't sure but he thought it might be Shin's own way of celebrating Monta's return and of course, after how understanding Shin had been for the past few days, Sena was more than willing to go at Shin's pace.

And even if Sena's ribs ached, he had never felt happier with everyone on the team back and focused, and with Shin right behind him, pushing him along and supporting him.

That day, Sena worked up enough nerve to invite Shin over for a real dinner this time. But though Sena was pretty sure that Shin would agree, he still found his heart pounding loud and fast when he asked.

"S-Shin-san, do you… do you want to come to my house for dinner tonight?" Sena asked timidly as Shin took off his helmet as their training finished for the afternoon.

"Your house?" Shin asked.

"I, um, I just thought… maybe we can take turns since maybe ingredients are expensive…and things…" Sena trailed off, looking down.

"All right," Shin agreed.

Sena's head snapped back up. "Really?" he asked eagerly.

Shin nodded.

"G-Great!" Sena said. "Um, but we probably have to stop by the grocery market… since I don't know if we have the right ingredients at my house," he said.

Sena's mother was not too happy about it when Sena and Shin showed up, and told her Shin was going to cook instead of joining her and Sena's father for the dinner she had made.

"But I've made enough," Sena's mother said.

"I-It's for training, Mom," Sena protested.

Sena's mother frowned, unconvinced. "Are you saying there's something wrong with my food, young man?" she asked.

Sena gulped.

"No, of course not," Shin spoke up. "But to maximize Sena's athletic potential, it is better for him to go on a strict diet," Shin said. "A professional nutritionist made this diet for athletes and it would benefit Sena to be on it for a short while – just before the Christmas Bowl," he said seriously.

Maybe it was Shin's complete seriousness or his obvious advantage in height and build to Sena, but Sena's father nodded.

"Of course. Do what you must. We support you," he said, smiling at them.

Sena's mother didn't look entirely happy though she let them retreat to the kitchen.

"Really, dear! You're just letting them do that?" Sena heard his mother saying to his father as they left. "And that boy! He wants to cook? Hmph, he doesn't look like the type!"

Sena laughed nervously, looking at Shin. "Um, sorry about my mom," he said.

"It's fine," Shin answered as they set down the groceries and Sena showed him where everything was kept in the kitchen.

"Um, can I help?" Sena asked and this time Shin accepted – maybe because it was Sena's house or because Sena had asked him directly this time.

Sena had never cooked before, of course, sans the one time he tried to help Mamori bake cookies which ended with Mamori doing the baking and Sena washing all the bowls and baking sheets afterwards. But Shin knew what he was doing and even though Sena tripped twice, spilled things, and cut himself on the finger once, Shin only continued giving him instructions on what to do and helped Sena fix the mistakes.

When they carried two plates out to the dining table to eat, the food was only slightly less neat than Shin's usual meals and tasted delicious as always so Sena figured it was okay. There was enough left over for Sena to pack as lunch the next day too and when they finished eating, they went to Sena's living room to go over football game tapes.

They spent the rest of the evening watching and analyzing games though by 9 p.m., Sena had to struggle to pay attention. Sena was actually getting very sleepy after a full day of practice and a sleepless night before since he had spent it looking for the receivers from the teams they had played before. But even though Sena really wanted to sleep, he didn't want Shin to leave so Sena did his best to keep his eyes open as he watched, only half-listening to Shin's voice as he spoke about the plays that were going on.

Sena jolted awake when he suddenly realized it was silent – both the television and Shin. And he was leaning against something rather hard though not entirely uncomfortable.

"Eh? I fell asleep?" Sena sat up, looking around for Shin only to find Shin was still sitting right beside him – and that Sena had been leaning against his arm when he fell asleep.

Sena blushed hard. "S-Shin-san! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

Shin looked at him and stood. "You're tired. Get some rest. We'll meet tomorrow morning at the park," he said.

Sena nodded, still blushing as he walked Shin to the door, unable to look Shin in the face as Shin walked out, only mumbling a good-bye in reply to Shin before shutting the door behind him.

He couldn't believe he had done something so embarrassing! And in front of Shin of all people!

Out of everyone, Shin was the one whose opinion Sena cared the most about, but less than a week into training, he had already screwed up so many times, being unable to concentrate because of Monta, and today with the cooking and sleeping now, he had humiliated himself even more. In fact, there hadn't ever really been anyone Sena actually wanted to look good in front of until Shin came into his life because ever since he was a child, Sena had always been timid and below average when it came to school and sports. But somehow, Shins opinion mattered so much to Sena.

Well, Sena thought rather helplessly, there wasn't really anything he could do about it now. He did, though, resolve to try extra hard in practice tomorrow and to try and not embarrass himself so much next time.

--

Everyone was fired up for training by the time the week ended. Ikkyuu and Monta were the most energetic out of everyone, as though trying to make up for the first few days that Monta had wasted.

The first week was, of course, the most exhausting because no one was used to the intensive training they had to do. Even the personal trainers seemed tired by week's end and there was still little visible improvement.

"All right, Sunday is your day off!" Hiruma told them when practice ended Saturday afternoon. "Do nothing but rest and you're all getting here early on Monday."

A collective sigh of relief passed through the group as everyone went back to the lockers to change.

An entire day off, Sena thought. The last time this had happened was, well, right before that match with Ojou when everyone had been exhausted fit to die after their last game against the Shinryuji Nagas.

"Hey Sena! What are you going to do?" Monta asked, slapping Sena on the back as they walked back to the lockers together.

Sena shrugged. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

"Dunno," Monta admitted. "It's been awhile since we had a day off," he said.

Sena nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly. It was hard to even remember what a day without football practice was like.

"I know! Want to come over tomorrow? We can have a party," Monta grinned.

"For what?" Sena asked.

"Hmm..." Monta thought hard for a moment.

Sena watched him. Monta hadn't thought this through at all.

"How about an early Christmas party?" Monta suggested. "And we can celebrate my deciding to beat Honjou-san at catching!" he added.

"Eh? Eh? A Christmas party?"

Sena suddenly found Suzuna's head between his and Monta's as she looked back and forth between them, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

"That's a great idea!" Suzuna beamed. "I'll help prepare for it! I have decorations and outfits and everything!"

"Isn't it a little early?" Sena asked. After all, this was just their first week. They still had two weeks left before the Christmas Bowl and therefore Christmas.

"Hey everyone! Christmas party at Monta's place tomorrow!" Suzuna called, ignoring Sena's protests.

Why did so many people here seem to only hear what was convenient for them, Sena thought.

"Eh? Everyone?" Monta asked.

"Oh! A Christmas party!" Taki beamed, twirling around. "The best holiday of the season!"

"A Christmas party?" Mizumachi also chimed in. "Let's--"

"No," Kakei said.

"Huh?"

"_Huh?_"

"_HUH?_"

The three Huh-huh brothers asked.

"No, I want to catch up with Shounen Jump," Togano said.

"And go to the arcade," Juumonji added.

"We're not hanging out with you losers!" Kuroki finished.

"Free food!" Suzuna said.

"Food? I challenge you to an eating contest!" Ootawara shouted at Kurita.

"Eh? I can bring food," Kurita said, smiling happily. "At Monta's house?"

"Huh?" Monta stared. "But I live an apartment! It'll be too noisy and we can't--"

"You have cable at your place, don't you?" Hiruma asked.

"Y-Yeah, but--"

Hiruma pulled out a little black book and grinned, showing all his teeth. "Your neighbors won't mind," he said. "It's set! We're watching American NFL football at Monta's place!" he declared.

"But how are you all going to fit?"

No one heard Monta's protests.

And that was how Sena found himself crowded into Monta's apartment with the rest of the Deimon team and all their personal trainers the next afternoon. And it really was very crowded. Though Monta's apartment wasn't exactly small, it wasn't really big either and with this many people - especially a lot of the bigger guys, it really was tight.

Sena found himself shoved into the kitchen with Monta to help Mamori and Suzuna as they loaded Monta's coffee table with snacks and juice. Sena ran - quite useful being small and fast as he shot back and forth from the kitchen, through the crowded hallway, through the crowded living room, and to the table where he set down whatever tray he was carrying and then zoomed back for more.

Monta's family had mysteriously disappeared though Monta whispered that it seemed they had suddenly won some trip to a hot spring resort so his parents and sister had gone off to enjoy the weekend. Hiruma had been laughing a lot when Monta told this to Sena so Sena thought it best not to ask too much about the strange coincidence.

Everything was brought to a halt when Hiruma suddenly let out a bout of gunfire out the open window. "Yaha! Get your asses in here! It's going to start!" Hiruma shouted.

Sena followed behind Mamori as she looked pointedly at Hiruma, though Hiruma just waved them over to the couch where he had reserved the "best spots in the house" for the Deimon team. She took a seat beside Hiruma who had his laptop open and his feet crossed, sitting beside Kurita and Komusubi. Mamori shifted so Sena could squeeze in between her and Monta – who didn't look very happy about the seating arrangement.

On the screen, the announcement was already beginning as the cameras panned around, showing the American football field.

"Wow," Sena thought as he watched. It really was different, being a pro. Of course he had already watched several NFL games with Shin, but usually Shin would analyze just what was important to what they were doing because they didn't have leisure time to do anything else, of course. With everyone else in the room now, it felt completely different and, even squished, very comfortable.

Kurita and Ootawara were already digging into the junk food as Sena found a bowl of popcorn shoved into his lap as Monta reached for a banana with his foot.

Yukimitsu, sitting on the ground with his back against the couch, yelped when he found Monta's toes stretching past his ear to grab the bananas and Kuroki, beside Yukimitsu cursed, dodging Monta's foot too.

"Damn monkey!" he shouted.

"Mukyaa! Who's a monkey?" Monta demanded, spraying banana everywhere.

"Shut up, damn monkey!" Hiruma snapped.

Sena sweated nervously as Mamori reached for one of the cream puffs Kurita had brought from Kariya bakery.

As the game progressed, Mamori would reach forward for a new cream puff every five minutes or so. They were diminishing at an alarming rate.

Mizumachi and Kakei were there too, of course, since Mizumachi was the one who also kept reaching over everyone else for snacks. Since he sat to the left of the television, Mizumachi ended up having to half crawl to reach forward, effectively blocking everyone's views of the television every time he leaned over. Kakei, sitting next to him as usual, stared impassively at the place where the television was until Mizumachi moved again like Mizumachi wasn't even there.

Luckily, neither Banba nor Gaou seemed to care much for snacks since the two of them sat near the back of the room, staring only intently at the television. If one of them reached for food, Sena didn't even want to think about how chaotic things might get.

Shin was back there with them too, Sena had noticed and he found himself itching to look back at his trainer and listen to what Shin had to say about the game even if everyone else already had plenty of input.

"Look at that run," Riku commented as one of the players sprinted forward, doing some kind of incredible move to get past a big lineman though it happened so fast, Sena couldn't register it properly. As the analysis of the play was played back in slow motion and the announcer blabbered something in English, Sena found himself turning to look at Shin, wanting to know what he thought of it.

Sean jumped though, when he found Shin looking straight at him too and whipped his head back, sinking down into his seat, sweating hard. For some reason, he felt nervous even though there wasn't really anything to be guilty about. Of course it was made all the worse but him acting so obviously guilty and now Sena didn't dare look back at Shin any more as he stared at the television screen.

Squashed between Monta and Mamori, Sena slowly relaxed again as he had fun, eating snacks and watching the game. Afterwards though, things got much much more chaotic.

First, it seemed that an hour or so before the Christmas party was supposed to begin, Riku had asked Tetsuma to bring some snacks like rice crackers or something to help out at the party, and to make sure to bring enough for everyone. What he had forgotten was that Tetsuma took orders very seriously.

Tetsuma bust into Monta's apartment, some twenty-minutes after the game had ended, dragging literally, five hundred packs of rice crackers in huge plastic bags behind him.

Riku sweated, looking rather apologetic as Tetsuma pulled the entire load straight inside, littering everyone with packets or rice crackers.

"Uh…I forgot I said at least enough for everyone…" Riku groaned.

Sena chuckled nervously beside him. "But isn't that way too much?" he said.

Kurita didn't seem to mind as he opened a pack and began to eat right away.

Mamori looked thoughtfully at Tetsuma as she reached for another creampuff.

"Don't even think about sending him to buy creampuffs, damn manager," Hiruma said, next to her.

Mamori flushed red. "I wasn't!" she protested.

"You're going to get fat, eating so many, damn manager," Hiruma said.

"And stop calling me that!"

Sena reached for a creampuff, chewing rather nervously as it looked like a fight might break out between Hiruma and Mamori again.

Then the lights suddenly went out and came back on as Suzuna jumped up and down by the television, wearing a modified Santa suit complete with short skirt and floppy red hat. "And now it's time for the Christmas celebration part!" she said, only to have words drowned out by a sudden loud screeching.

When Sena finally dared to pull his hands away from his ears, he found it was because Akaba had plugged in his amp and was now playing Christmas tunes on noisy electric guitar in the middle of Monta's living room.

"Hey! What's going on in there?" Sena heard someone shout from outside the apartment.

Hiruma grinned, hand creeping to his pocket as he pulled out a little black book.

Everyone who saw him cringed as Hiruma got up from the couch and walked leisurely to the door. He opened it and Sena saw just a peek of a stout, red-faced woman who was glaring through thick rims at Hiruma.

A moment later, the door opened again and Hiruma walked back in with a very disconcerting happy grin on his face as he sat back down and flipped open his laptop.

Mamori sighed.

Akaba started up with his guitar again as the Huh-huh brothers demanded to know what guitar had to do with anything at all.

All too soon, though, people began to leave. Yukimitsu was first to go, saying he still had to study or his mother would kill him – the nervous expression on his face enough proof for everyone to believe him. Banba and Gaou also left quite early since they had only come because Hiruma told everyone to be there, and then Kakei also left with Mizumachi who looked like he wanted to stay but didn't since Kakei was leaving. Pretty soon, Riku and Tetsuma left too.

"You guys can just keep the rest of the crackers," Riku said apologetically as the two of them left.

"What are we going to do with so many…" Sena exchanged looks with Monta who looked like he was going to drown in despair at the chaos left behind in his apartment.

Akaba and Ikkyuu, followed by Ootawara and Shin also got ready to leave though Hiruma hooked back the three Huh-huh brothers as they tried to sneak out too.

"You all help clean this up!" Hiruma ordered, baring his teeth in a threatening grin.

The Huh-huh brothers, like all other Hiruma-fearing people, grimaced but joined in as Mamori gave them trash bags to help pick up.

Sena stood holding his own trash bag, as Shin put on his shoes, ready to leave.

"S-Shin-san!" Sena called. They hadn't seen each other or talked at all today until the party and then it was so crowded and busy that Sena hadn't had a chance to talk to him.

Shin stopped at the door, turning slightly to look at him.

Sena gulped, feeling suddenly nervous. "I just, um… good night," he mumbled, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

"Good night," Shin answered and walked out.

Sena stood staring at the door for a moment until Taki twirled in the way, picking up trash in leaps and bragging about it as the Huh-huh brothers, feeling challenged apparently, collected like a mad whirlwind behind him.

Sena began to help straighten things out again, but he couldn't help feeling slightly disappointed. He hadn't gotten to talk to Shin at all today and Shin had only said good-bye to him because Sena said it first.

Sena felt a little abandoned, neglected maybe, even though it made no sense because Shin wasn't even really like a friend or anything – he was only Sena's trainer and only because of Hiruma's agreement with the other teams.

But even knowing that and knowing Shin hadn't meant anything by leaving so abruptly, Sena couldn't help but feel disappointed.

--

tbc? Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

The Way To a Touchdown

Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 belongs to Inagaki Riichiro and Murata Yusuke, etc.

--

When practice resumed on Monday, Shin and Sena started with their usual jog, but instead of focusing on running and speed endurance, they went to the weight room for what Sena would have to start working on for the next few days and the thing Sena was the worst at doing – weight training.

Komusubi, Ootawara, Togano and Banba were already there though Banba and Togano were in the boxing ring while Ootawara and Komusubi were working with some of the other equipment.

Sena gulped as he watched Komusubi lift a hundred kilos easily.

"You're not going to be building mass," Shin said, apparently seeing Sena's gaze. "Agility training is important but building some muscle will also help," he told Sena. "From now, we'll rotate speed and muscle training every other day. It will also help muscle recovery to rotate the schedule," he said.

Sena nodded as Shin looked around, gauging the Deimon weight room.

"Do you know how to use these?" Shin asked.

"U-Um, I know the bench press, and some floor exercises with the mats…" Sena trailed off. Usually the linemen and Hiruma trained here more while he and Monta focused on speed and passing. Actually, though Sena had gotten stronger, he was still pretty weak and small in comparison to other guys his age – the only thing Sena was really good at was his speed and being small and light actually helped him when he ran because there wasn't so much strain on his limbs and joints unlike with Banba or Gaou who had to bind their joints to help strengthen them.

"Here," Shin said, handing Sena several cloths which Sena realized were joint reinforcements.

Sena looked quizzically at them for a moment.

"You shouldn't take any risks for injury before the game," Shin said. "Start wearing these to practice."

"Th-Thanks," Sena said as he pulled the elastic reinforcers over his knees and ankles. "Do I need them for my arms too?" Sena asked when he saw there were more.

Shin nodded. "In here, we'll also be training the rest of your body to lessen injuries if you're tackled," he said.

"Oh…" Sena said as he obediently pulled them on.

Since they had already warmed up before, Shin pointed to the first machine that Sena had seen Hiruma do several times before, but that he had never tried himself.

"I, um, I never used that before…" Sena admitted, a bit embarrassed.

"Then I'll demonstrate," Shin said and got onto the contraption himself. It was a weird, chair-like device that he sat down in with a padded bar by his feet which Shin hooked his ankles beneath. The little diagram pasted on the side of the machine called it a Leg Extension and Shin reached behind him to push the bar that set the amount of weight, all the way down close to the very bottom.

Sena's eyes very nearly bulged out of his head when he saw Shin planned to lift 160kg.

"Extend your legs out slowly and back down," Shin said, demonstrating exactly that as he did twenty repetitions before getting off the seat.

Sena sweated rather nervously as he got on. Even though he didn't want to look weak in front of Shin, he was sure there was no way he could do even close to the amount of weight Shin did and in the end, cowardice won over pride.

"U-Um, I should probably start pretty light…" Sena chuckled nervously as Shin reached around to set the weight for him.

"Then we'll start at 40kg," Shin said.

Sena gulped. He had enough problems trying to bench press even that much, but as he extended his legs out in front of him, he found it easier than he had expected. Then he realized it should be obvious. As a runner, most of his strength was in his legs, and running had been what Sena had been doing for all these years so of course his legs would be stronger than his arms.

"M-Maybe a little more than that…" Sena said, glancing apologetically at Shin who simply reset it for him.

"Try this weight. Start with 40 extensions," Shin said.

Sena did as told with the heavier weight and though it started out quite comfortable, by the time he was done with forty repetitions, his muscles were definitely feeling it.

"Relax," Shin said and Sena did as told, looking at Shin who was looking at a stopwatch. "Another forty," Shin said after a few seconds.

Sena took a deep breath and started up again.

Once Sena had done three sets of forty reps, Shin got back on the Leg Extension to work out, explaining that Sena should take the time in between the different machines to stretch his muscles and rest.

And like that, they slowly went through several of the different equipment – many of them leg trainers, of course, but also things like crunches at an angle (which Sena very nearly died trying to do after just his twentieth crunch), the bench press (which Sena felt horribly embarrassed doing in front of Shin who was lifting more than three times what Sena could do), and various others.

By the time they were through, Sena thought this was even more exhausting than the light speed running he had been doing with Shin and his muscles were already starting to ache.

It didn't help that he felt rather inadequate compared to everyone else in the room. Even Togano, who was probably the weakest one besides Sena, was far stronger and even if Shin had told him not to worry about things like that, Sena still felt somewhat pathetic compared to everyone else.

"What's wrong?" Shin asked as they walked towards the train station after practice that afternoon.

Sena glanced up and found himself looking into Shin's eyes. Shin had his usual stoic expression, but Sena thought he looked maybe a little concerned – or maybe it was just Sena's own wishful thinking.

"Nothing…" Sena began and then sighed, looking down at the sidewalk. "Well, it's just… I'm not very strong…" Sena admitted. He couldn't help thinking about how much taller and stronger the real Eyeshield 21, Yamato Takeru, and all the other Teikoku starters had looked too when they had gone to scout the school.

Since it was winter, the sun had already gone down though it was only 6 p.m., and the streetlights had already begun to shine in the darkening night. A few cars passed by as they headed towards the station though the streets seemed to be rather empty today with just a few other passerbys.

It was getting chillier too, and Sena could see his breath in little puffs as he walked, pulling his jacket a little tighter around himself.

"You are strong," Shin said.

Sena looked up at him in surprise though Shin continued walking into the station, pushing his pass card into the machine as Sena quickly followed and they walked up the stairs towards their terminal.

"Physical strength is not the only important thing in football," Shin said as they passed through the brightly lit platform and headed back down another set of stairs towards the terminal. "You have everything you need to defeat Teikoku already," Shin said.

Sena swallowed as he looked up at Shin. And since Shin was Shin and he had said so with such conviction, Sena found himself believing it too.

"Thanks…" he said quietly.

Shin looked down at him, his expression softening just a little. Sena found himself staring anyways, amazed by Shin and how he thought and how he felt and how he looked and everything about him.

And then the train pulled up to the station with a screech and Shin turned back to face it as passengers got off and they got on.

--

The next day, Sena received three text messages in the morning.

The first from Mamori said – _Don't forget to dress warm and wear a scarf!_

The second from Hiruma said – _Catch a cold and die, fucking shrimp!_

The third from Monta said – _You should go to the station early – looks like it's gonna be crowded today, man!_

It was pretty obvious why when Sena went to look out his window. Sometime the night before, it had snowed and everything was covered in powdery white. He wondered if he should call Shin and ask if they were still going to do their normal morning jog, but it turned out he didn't have to when the doorbell rang.

Since Sena's father had gone to answer it, Sena didn't think much of it as he began to get dressed – warmly and with a scarf as Mamori had advised – and packed up for school. As he had expected from the day before, his muscles were aching today and Sena felt stiff all over as he pulled on his clothes.

He didn't expect the knock on his door or having it opened when Sena was in the middle of pulling on his school shirt over his T-shirt, so he found himself staring with his arms still raised to pull the school shirt down, staring into Shin's equally surprised face.

Sena blushed bright red and quickly pulled his school shirt down, even though it wasn't like Shin had even seen any of his skin since the shirt was just going on over a T-shirt, and even though Shin was a guy and they had both seen each other more than just half naked before, changing in the locker rooms.

"Uh, um, Shin-san, good morning?" Sena said as he adjusted his shirt, buttoning up the top two buttons, and reached for his school jacket to pull on over that. On top of the school jacket, Sena added an extra winter jacket in case since he actually rather disliked being cold.

"Sorry," Shin apologized.

"I-It's okay," Sena said even as he wondered why Shin was here.

"We can't jog outside today," Shin said, answering the question. "We'll have morning practice at the weight room," he said.

"Okay, um…" Sena hesitated. "You didn't have to come all the way over. You could have just called me – you have my number, right?" he asked, fairly sure that was the case since Mamori had made up contact sheets and a temporary phone tree for the team and all the personal trainers for easy contact.

"I usually don't use the telephone," Shin answered. "They don't work properly."

Sena sweated, remembering how Shin had broken the remote last time they were watching tapes at Shin's house. Not working properly for Shin probably meant broken for everyone else.

"Oh, um, thanks then… I'm almost ready," Sena said as he hurried to finish packing and threw the scarf around his neck.

Shin stood by the door waiting with duffel bag on his shoulder, also dressed in heavy winter clothing. He actually looked very mature and handsome today, wearing a long pea coat and checkered scarf over his school uniform.

Sena felt a little childish next to him, with his own puffy, insulated jacket over his own uniform, but he didn't want to make Shin wait just so he could change again, so he just shrugged it off and followed Shin downstairs.

Since it was still so early, Sena's parents had gone right back to sleep after opening the door, so Shin and Sena ate the breakfast Shin had brought together at the table. After that, they left the house, headed for the station which was, as Monta had said, more crowded than usual today because of snow.

Sena found himself squashed beside Shin as he clung, wobbling, to the overhead handholds since there were no seats available on the train. Even though Sena was a little taller than he had been at the beginning of the year, 158cm still wasn't all that tall and Sena had to stretch his arms straight up and keep his legs locked stiff to keep from falling over. It wasn't quite as difficult today, though, since it was so squished in the car. Pressed between Shin and a stranger, it was easier to keep balance but Sena found himself somewhat embarrassed to be face-to-face with just the sleeve of Shin's coat every time the train swayed. He didn't even quite reach the top of Shin's shoulder when they were standing next to each other like this.

A particularly hard braking sent Sena off balance as he fell sideways against Shin to his embarrassment, but Shin was standing as firm as a rock even as Sena righted himself, apologizing.

They walked the short distance from the station to Deimon High, trudging through the slush left behind by early morning cleaners who had cleared away the snow on the roads and sidewalks so people could still move easily. It was definitely too slippery and wet to go jogging outside, though, and they weren't the only ones in the weight room when they arrived that morning.

Actually, the weight room was packed with all the football players and their trainers as more and more people began to arrive. A sign taped outside the weight room said – _For American football practice only! Ya-ha!_

And since there was a Devil Bat drawn on it, no one from any other athletic clubs dared to defy Hiruma's orders. Even with just the football team though, it seemed to be very crowded inside the weight room.

Shin and Sena stretched out on the mats after changing and headed for the treadmills where they spent the rest of their morning running. It was much easier on machines than it was on normal ground, Sena found, and by the end of morning practice, his muscles felt much better, warmed up now, as the personal trainers all left for their own schools.

The problem came that afternoon, though, when everyone gathered by the field and found, to their dismay, that not only had it snowed more earlier that afternoon, but the entire field was covered in several inches of snow and absolutely impossible to practice in.

"Are we going to the weight room again?" Juumonji asked where he stood beside Sena on the edge of the field.

Sena could just imagine how crowded the weight room was going to get if everyone went in there to train not to mention, it might actually be impossible because there was only so much equipment available in there.

"Fucking principal…" Hiruma said from inside his oxygen tank.

Sena looked toward Shin to see what his trainer was going to do – and that was when he found himself falling backwards into the snow, his entire face covered with it.

Sena sat up, rather stunned as he wiped the snow from his face though it was pretty obvious who had thrown the snowball.

"Hey! I actually aimed right!" Monta was cheering from out in the field, his hands in fuzzy mittens, wearing a cap with earflaps.

"Huh?" Sena stared, too surprised to react even as Monta whipped up another snowball – only this time his aim didn't work and the snowball flew straight into Kuroki's face.

"Damn monkey!" Kuroki shouted and began gathering up snow except it seemed he didn't have too much experience making snow balls because the entire thing came apart as soon as he launched it in the air – falling all over Komusubi who immediately began rolling up an enormous snow ball.

Komusubi, concentrated on pushing the enormous snowball, now like the bottom of a snowman, though, ran the thing right into Akaba whose eyes widened when his beloved guitar was buried in the mound of snow, made worse when Taki, spinning through the snow-filled fields, tripped over the mound and crashed right into Kurita who fell back in the snow. Then the Huh-huh brothers started launching snowballs every which way.

In an instant, football practiced turned into an all out snowball fight as snowballs were thrown everywhere. The only one safe was Hiruma in his oxygen tank – but even Gaou joined in when Kurita heaved a big snowball into his trainer's face – apparently no longer afraid of Gaou after training with him for the past week.

Sena found himself rolling up a big snowball with Monta but it ended up too big for them to lift up and they ended up crashing the thing into Kakei though Kakei had, so far, been standing free of the fight.

Mizumachi hooted with laughter and pelted his teammate in the face with a snowball.

Sena caught sight of Shin standing to one side of the field as snowballs flew all around him, a few hitting him in the chest and legs too though Shin just stood there, staring rather blankly at the field.

"S-Shin-san!" Sena called, going over to him, just as a snowball someone had launched hit Shin square in the face. "You um, are you okay?" he asked.

Shin looked even more confused. "Is this training?" he asked, completely serious.

Sena bit his lip, somewhat ashamed at finding it so funny that Shin was so lost though it was just a normal snowball fight. "Um, kind of? It's a game…"

"Like a football game," Shin said, nodding seriously.

"Not really…" Sena said. "You just make snowballs and throw them at people," he told Shin. "And um, try not to get hit," Sena explained, feeling rather awkward and juvenile to be explaining this to Shin. It was probably too childish for Shin to join in anyway, Sena thought, rather embarrassed that he had even decided to try explaining to Shin.

Sena began to apologize. "Y-You don't have to—"

Only to end in a gurgle when he found himself with a mouthful of snow that Shin had just thrown straight into his face.

"H-Hey!" Sena protested, but Shin was already holding another snowball, looking more amused than Sena had ever seen him, as he readied to launch it at Sena, easily dodging another snowball that flew by his left ear.

Sena yelped and ran, sending up a flurry of snow behind him as he dashed for cover while trying to grab as much snow in his hands to pack into a ball to throw back at Shin.

When it got dark that afternoon, everyone was absolutely soaked though even the normally serious trainers like Banba and Kakei seemed to have relaxed. Shin had the slightest hint of a smile on his face as everyone went to change in the locker room.

As soon as Sena walked in, he felt his cheeks and nose tingling with the sudden warmth. Though the entire afternoon had been blown on the huge snowball fight on the field, the constant activity had been quite a workout for everyone.

"Sena! You're going to catch cold," Mamori fussed as she handed him a towel at the door. "Dry off properly," she told him as she hurried away before any of the guys started changing.

Scrubbing at his face and drying his hair with the towel, Sena found himself quickly warming up though he shivered from the cold air that was let in every time someone opened the locker room door so he quickly changed.

"That is a snowball fight?" Shin asked as they left for the station together with Ootawara, Monta, Kuroki, and several of the others since no one felt like training more after the snowball fight.

Sena nodded, smiling. "Y-Yeah…"

"I see…" Shin said.

Ootawara slapped them both hard on the back – Sena flying forward from it though Shin didn't seem affected at all. "Fun, wasn't it?" he bellowed, grinning widely.

"Oh yeah! Especially that first snowball I threw at you," Monta grinned at Sena.

"You missed all the ones after that," Kuroki said, teasing him.

"Hah, at least I caught all the ones thrown at me," Monta bragged. "I didn't get hit once!"

"You oni did. From behind," Ikkyuu reminded him.

"That doesn't count," Monta said.

"Fuu…" Beside them, Akaba let out a mournful sigh as he looked at his guitar.

"Uh…um, it's not really damaged is it?" Sena asked, a little worried. Electric guitars seemed to be expensive, after all.

"That was …not good music sense," Akaba answered.

"Snow has nothing to do with music!" Kuroki shouted – the only Huh-huh brother at the station since the other two lived closer to school.

"Hey, Shin-san! You were max good!" Monta said. "Wasn't this the first time you played?"

Shin nodded, looking rather amused again.

Sena thought it was pretty much a given though, since Shin was a natural at anything sports related and snowball fighting could, very vaguely, be defined as a sort-of sport. At least, Shin was better than Kakei and Banba who, also first time playing, were terrible at it – their height and build making them much easier targets for snowballs to hit. Kakei had ended up pelting Mizumachi with probably a hundred snowballs all at once, though, when he finally got hit by one snowball too many. He looked rather satisfied with himself, especially since Mizumachi's hair was still soaked and dripping melted snow.

In fact, it had been a great day, Sena thought, as everyone began splitting up to go to their own terminals at the station. Watching everyone act like overgrown children made them all so much less intimidating. Banba was talking rather openly with Ikkyuu about girls (and how they never seemed to attract any even though their quarterbacks seemed to have them at their beck and call) as they headed towards one terminal though they didn't seem to have ever talked before today. Mizumachi was going on and on to Shin, talking about snow to snowboarding to skiing to jet skiing to swimming. Shin kept nodding seriously and putting in the occasional related comment – all sports and training related of course – until Kakei dragged Mizumachi away towards their terminal.

Sena followed Shin, Ootawara, and Monta onto their train when it came, sitting between Shin and Monta, Ootawara on the other side of Shin. Ootawara was saying something loudly to Shin who commented with his deep voice every so often, and as the train began to move, Sena yawned, feeling content and warm. He wouldn't mind staying like this with his friends, and Shin, forever.

--

tbc? Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

The Way To a Touchdown

Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 belongs to Inagaki Riichiro and Murata Yusuke, etc.

Notes: Thanks so much for all the reviews! And yes, btw, other couples I like is HiruMamo, KakeiMizumachi, AkabaKotaro, etc….so there are hints of them in this fic, haha, but of course it's a ShinSena fic so!

--

By the next day, the snow had melted, leaving a rather muddy but usable field. Shin and Sena were doing weight training in the weight room so they didn't have to slip and slide all over the mud, unlike several of the others like Monta, Ikkyuu, and Musashi who came into the locker room completely splattered from head to toe in mud from their training – Monta and Ikkyuu moreso than Musashi since it looked like both of them had slipped quite a bit, trying to catch while sliding around on the field.

But what really took everyone by surprise was when the locker room burst open late that afternoon when everyone was changing.

Yukimitsu was the first to let out a rather high-pitched squeal followed by loud yelps from the Hah-Hah brothers, Ikkyuu passing out, red-faced on the ground, and Mizumachi's loud, nonchalant greeting.

"Suzuna-chan!"

Sena whirled to stare, jumping as he quickly pulled down the jersey he had just been about to strip off.

"Suzuna?" He stared at the small cheerleader who was looking a lot less peppy and actually more like flaming with anger as she stomped into the locker room and past horrified football players who quickly tried to cover themselves up – some with more success than others.

"You!" she shouted, coming to a stop in front of Sena, pointing her finger right at his nose.

Sena shrank back. "Huh?" he asked, completely bewildered and feeling very much unjustly accused – especially when every guy in the locker room turned to glare at him.

"Look what you did!" Suzuna said.

Sena was even more confused. "What I did?" he echoed. As far as he remembered, he had only seen Suzuna once today and that was when she burst into the weight room to cheer for everyone who was training there before she ran back out to go cheer for the next group of people. Of course she did that so often that no one really paid much attention to her except for Ikkyuu who would stop and stare bashfully until Monta said something about Suzuna being flat-chested or something like that.

"Y-Yeah, what did he do?" Monta, Sena's reliable, wonderful best friend spoke up.

That meant Suzuna's anger turned, directed towards him. "It's your fault too!" she accused him.

Monta's eyes widened. "Hey, what did we do?"

"I was so busy helping you guys with the team, I totally forgot about the first year field trip!" she said. "Why didn't either of you remind me?" Suzuna demanded.

Sena exchanged blank looks with Monta until Monta's eyes lit up and he slapped his fist down in his palm. "Ah, right!" he said. "Remember, I think they announced it a few weeks back during morning announcements," Monta said. "The first year field trip was moved up this year so we're going… when was it…"

"This weekend!" Suzuna said, glaring at them.

In fact, Sena had been so busy with football he had completely forgotten about the field trip. "Where is it anyway?" he asked.

"At some hot spring resort… isn't that what it is every year?" Togano spoke up.

"Yeah, hey! They're first years too. Blame them!" Monta said, pointing to the three Huh-huh brothers.

Suzuna bonked him on the head. "Obviously they wouldn't pay attention to that! Why would I ask them?" she said.

The Huh-huh brothers looked slightly offended but probably figured it was better not to get involved so they didn't protest.

"Well we can't go, we have practice," Sena said, cowering back when Suzuna narrowed her most fearsome glare at him.

"What? This is our only field trip this year!" Suzuna said.

It felt like it had been a lot more than that since Sena had never traveled more in one year than this year – going so many different places for games, and even flying all the way to America thanks to Hiruma during summer break.

"I…"

"We're going," Suzuna said firmly.

"Hey, what about them?" Monta protested, pointing to the Huh-huh brothers who looked even more annoyed.

"Don't drag us into this!" Togano said.

"Yeah, no way we're going," Jumonji continued.

"In your dreams!" Kuroki said.

"Umph!" Komusubi agreed with the three for once.

"Yeah, Suzuna—" Sena shut up when Suzuna turned wide-eyed at him, obviously trying to look pitiful.

"You two wouldn't leave me all by myself on the trip, would you?" Suzuna asked.

"Yeah we would—"

"Oh yeah? I'll tell Mamori how pitiless you are!" Suzuna threatened. "It's not even three days completely – just two nights," Suzuna said.

Sena really didn't want to go since he would much rather practice and train.

"Hey, where is it?" Hiruma finally spoke up.

"Down in Kyushuu," Suzuna answered. "It'll be pretty warm."

Hiruma's grin widened. "You can go damn shrimp and monkey," he said.

Sena and Monta both turned to stare at their captain. "What?"

"You better train extra hard the next few days to make up for it though," Hiruma ordered. "Back to practice!" he ordered, pulling out an assault rifle, ready to shoot at anyone who didn't immediately jump to obey.

"Yeah, but we can't change until Suzuna leaves."

"Why did you come in the locker room anyway?"

"And you two have a job when you go…" Hiruma said as Suzuna left the room. His grin widened.

Sena gulped.

--

That night they went to Sena's house after stopping by Shin's house first to pick up a few toiletries and a change of Shin's clothes because there was just no way he could possibly fit into Sena's. Since Sena was now assigned to extra training to make up for the lost days, they had agreed to wake up extra early and begin training at 3 a.m. for the next three mornings. And since they would be needing all the sleep they could get and their houses were far enough apart, they had agreed to have sleepovers.

Sena felt both giddy and anxious at the thought.

"Tadaima," Sena called as he and Shin walked in.

His mother appeared in the doorway of the living room. "Ara? Oh…it's your friend, um…"

"Shin Seijuro," Shin answered with a stiff bow.

"Right." Though his mother was smiling, Sena could see she was really rather annoyed about Shin and didn't seem to like him – maybe because he had cooked and refused to eat her food last time he came over.

"U-Um, Shin-san is sleeping over, Mom," Sena said quickly. "Since we have training really early tomorrow morning."

"Hmm… and you're going to _cook_ for yourselves again?" his mother asked. She was definitely not happy about that, Sena thought with a gulp.

And while he usually listened to whatever his mother had to say, Sena really did not know what to do now that she seemed determined to do…whatever it was she wanted to do to Shin – humiliate him or criticize him or something like that. Sena cringed. Of course he didn't want his mother to get on Shin's case, but he was also too scared to go against her.

"Yes," Shin answered honestly.

There probably could have been a better way to say that to try to pacify his mother's anger, but Sena certainly couldn't think of any right on the spot, and Shin didn't seem to even notice that Sena's mother was annoyed.

"Mom, it's just because we have to be on a diet," Sena said, trying to explain.

"So you're saying my meals aren't healthy?" she asked, turning on Sena.

Sena cowered.

"If you are worried, Kobayakawa-san, you can inspect the meal," Shin said, completely misinterpreting her.

Sena's mother, though, narrowed her eyes. "Hmph, then I'll inspect you in the kitchen too," she said.

"B-But Mom…" Sena's protest died away under her glare.

Shin, of course, didn't look in the least bit intimidated as they walked into the kitchen with their groceries. Sena could only follow behind, a sense of doom hanging around him.

His mother was going to make a big scene and embarrass Shin and Shin would hate Sena and his family and never come back. This was going to be painful. Very very painful.

--

Half an hour later, Sena found himself in a state of shock as his mother exchanged cooking and nutrition tips with Shin.

"Yes, have you ever used the miso paste from SonSon?" his mother asked in an apron beside Shin where she was stir-frying some meat. "There's almost no fat and very low sodium but it's delicious," she told him.

"Aa, I will look for it next time," Shin answered, chopping up vegetables beside her. "Vinaigrette is also good to use with salad," he said. "It helps detoxify the body and it's low in oil content."

"Yes yes, I like using it when I stir-fry vegetables," Sena's mother said. "What do you think of vitamin supplements? I was talking to Tanaka-san next door, you know, and she said it's better to get the nutrients from regular food so she refuses to take any."

Shin nodded. "Supplements are a good idea as insurance to your normal diet," he said. "It's difficult to intake the proper amount of nutrients needed per day even on a normal diet."

"Yes, like calcium, right?" Sena's mother said.

"To get enough calcium, you would need to drink four cups of milk each day," Shin answered.

"And what about organic food? It seems there are commercials for it every day," Sena's mother commented.

"They are not much healthier than food that has pesticide," Shin said. "You have to consume a very high amount before pesticide will become a real threat to health. It is the same with mercury in fish," he said. "The amount that a normal person would eat could not make it a big risk."

"Not anymore than the pollution in the air we're breathing, anyway," Sena's mother said as they continued on chatting amiably.

Sena felt rather stunned as he watched his mother and Shin, well, _bonding_ or something as they cooked. Sena on the other hand, didn't have a clue what they were talking about or doing so he sort of stood to one side of the kitchen, hopping out of the way any time one of them had to go past him. Since Sena's mother was also cooking, there really wasn't much more help that they needed from Sena that could speed things up.

Sena also felt ridiculously impressed with Shin. Even Sena's father had a hard time dealing with her if Sena's mother really didn't like something, but somehow or other, Shin's serious, honest attitude had managed to win her over or something. And even if Sena already felt like Shin knew everything and knew how to do everything, he was still amazed that Shin had an answer to everything Sena's mother was saying and by the end of the conversation, Sena's mother had even decided to switch over to wheat bread instead of white, though she said she would stick with white rice for a bit longer.

By the time the meal was ready, Sena's father had come home from work and all four of them sat down together at the table.

Even Sena's father looked rather surprised that his wife was getting along so well with Shin who she so obviously disliked before. Of course since Sena's father was rather good-natured, Sena wasn't nearly as worried about him, though Sena did start to get nervous when his father began talking about school to Shin – typical parental concerns of course.

"Do you plan to take the entrance exams, then?" his father asked as they ate.

Sena silently panicked on the inside since more likely than not, Shin was going to go into professional football, but even if that was already very prestigious, to the normal parent, it still couldn't compare to a university education probably.

To Sena's surprise, though, Shin nodded. "My parents expect me to," he answered. "And football is not a sport I could play forever. The body deteriorates and past a certain age, it is impossible to compete with younger athletes," Shin said seriously.

Sena's father nodded approvingly. "You do plan to go into professional football, though?"

"I'm not sure yet," Shin answered. "Although I would like to continue pursuing it at university," he said.

Sena's mother looked even happier with that. "Where do you plan to apply then?" she asked. "You will have to begin preparing for it next year, right? You're a second-year now."

"W-Well, Ojou has it's own college too, right?" Sena said.

"Ojou?" Both Sena's parents looked impressed that Shin went to such a prestigious private school.

"Yes, or maybe an American university," Shin said as Sena's eyes widened though he really should have seen that coming. The best football teams – real professionals – were all in America where the sport had been invented. And Sena knew Shin already had many offers for recruitment to teams after he graduated high school, but for some reason he had never thought Shin would go all the way to America.

Sena's parents, of course, looked even more impressed.

"Ara, that's wonderful!" Sena's mother said. "Smart and talented," she said.

Shin shook his head. "I still have a long way to go to defeat Sena," he said.

Sena found himself whirling around to meet Shin's eyes where he saw an unexpected tenderness as well as challenge, making him flustered and tongue-tied.

"I…I…"

"Sena, you should learn from Shin-kun," Sena's mother said. Both his parents looked even more proud of Sena after Shin's comment.

But America? Sena couldn't get the thought out of his mind.

--

"Um, sorry about my parents today," Sena apologized later as he pulled out the extra futon for Shin, spreading it out on the floor beside his own bed.

"It's fine," Shin said. "They are good parents."

Sena, though, couldn't get that nagging concern out of his mind, even as he crawled into bed and slipped beneath his covers. "Are you really going to go to America after you graduate?" he found himself blurting out.

Shin stopped in place where he had been pulling back the blanket on the futon. "I'm not sure," he answered. "There is still time to think about it," he said. It didn't reassure Sena much since Shin was going to be a third year in just a few months while Sena was a second year and after that… when Sena was a third year, Shin might be gone completely. Sena couldn't imagine football, or even life now in high school, without Shin around. Shin really was like Sena's mentor and hero and what was he supposed to do on his own without Shin?

"What do you plan to do?" Shin asked, taking Sena by surprise.

Sena blinked, turning in his bed to face Shin who was still sitting up on the futon though he wasn't looking at Sena.

"I…I haven't thought about it," Sena admitted honestly. Well, he was just a first year, after all, and this year had been so packed with just one thing after another with the football team, he hadn't had much time to think about anything else at all. Even doing his homework and studying was all Sena could squeeze in.

"You will be getting offers to play professionally too," Shin told him. "You'll be recruited if that is what you want."

"N-No, I don't think I'm…"

"You are Eyeshield 21," Shin said firmly even as Sena stuttered an embarrassed protest.

Sena swallowed hard and nodded.

"You have time to consider it," Shin said as he lay down and closed his eyes.

Sena stared at Shin's calm, sleeping face, less strict-looking than usual when it was relaxed in sleep. Shin was so incredible. But just when Sena thought he was beginning to get a little close to Shin, was just beginning to become a better athlete, it felt like Shin was slipping so far away again.

--

Friday morning, Sena found himself dragging out the good-bye with Shin even though he'd be back and they'd be training together again by Monday morning.

"S-Sorry about this," Sena said, feeling awkward as he trailed behind Shin who had his duffel and was heading for the train station to go to Ojou for school.

"It's fine," Shin said though Sena still felt guilty. He felt strangely reluctant to go on the school trip even though it was going to be his first school trip in high school and unlike elementary and middle school, he had Monta and Suzuna as friends now, and now that he was a football player and teammates with the Huh-huh brothers and Hiruma to back him, no one ever asked him to gofer anything anymore. In fact, people were being a lot friendlier now.

Still, Sena felt bad for leaving for two and a half days of practice – even if it seemed Hiruma had told everyone to take Sunday off again. And after that first night Shin had slept over Sena's house, Sena continuously had the nagging thought of the future in his mind. He could more or less push it out of his mind when they were training, but he couldn't stop worrying about it when they weren't.

They reached the Deimon gates where some students were already starting to come in though it was still early.

"I guess, um, I'll see you when I get back," Sena said.

"Take the opportunity to rest," Shin said.

Sena nodded, feeling somewhat disappointed though there wasn't any reason to be.

"Have a safe trip," Shin said finally and then turned and walked down the street.

Sena was a little surprised that Shin had wished him a good trip, but then he told himself to stop being stupid. It wasn't like Shin was an unfeeling person or anything. He cared about his friends and teammates in his own gruff way. And as for Sena… Sena felt a little embarrassed and arrogant to even be thinking it, but he thought Shin probably cared about him too.

As he went back to meet up with Suzuna and Monta, having nothing to do as they waited for the rest of their first year class to show up, the three of them hung out in Sena's classroom with their luggage.

"Hey, you brought work-out clothes, right?" Monta asked, perched on the desk next to Sena's as Suzuna leaned against Sena's desk and he sat in his own chair.

Sena nodded. "We can at least jog at night and in the morning a little," Sena said.

Monta grinned. "Yeah! Training max!" he gave Sena a thumbs up.

Suzuna sighed. "Didn't Demon-bro say to take a rest?" she said. "And we have our job to do!"

Sena gulped at the thought of the job but Monta just shrugged.

"It's just jogging and everyone else is still training. We can't fall behind, man," Monta said. "Especially since I wasted so much time in the beginning! I gotta catch up!" he said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, but how are we going to do the job?" Sena asked, feeling rather nervous now that he thought about it. Of course there was no way Hiruma would give him and Monta a free weekend off with no catch and this catch was a big one.

"We'll figure something out when we get there!" Suzuna said, completely brushing the problem off.

Actually, Hiruma wanted the three of them to pay a visit to Ishida Goro. It sounded simple except that Ishida Goro was a multi-millionaire businessman and also one of the big sponsors of Teikoku and the Teikoku Alexanders American football team. Just getting past the security was going to be impossible by itself but it was even worse when it came to what Hiruma wanted them to do – and that was to convince Ishida Goro to withdraw sponsorship from Teikoku and transfer it to Deimon.

No matter how Sena thought about it, it was just impossible. Even getting a meeting with the guy was impossible, much less trying to convince him to support a mediocre-at-best highschool like Deimon. Even if their football team was going to the Christmas Bowl, it really didn't mean that much compared to the prestige of Teikoku or Ojou.

"Anyway, we can do that in our free time," Suzuna said.

That really only meant they had even less time to accomplish the impossible. It wasn't anything to be happy about.

Well, there wasn't really anything Sena could do about it until they got there at least so he decided to take the advice and relax and enjoy the trip for now. On the bus there, he, Monta, and Suzuna played cards – usually won by Suzuna and a few times by Monta though Sena always came in dead last. Lunch at a rest station was fun as the three of them tried each other's food and shared a large shaved ice between the three of them. In the afternoon, they arrived at destination and finally split up to unpack.

Sena suspected Hiruma had somehow rigged the room assignments since he and Monta were assigned to be roommates even though they weren't even in the same class – not that Sena minded, really – and the two of them followed four other boys to the room they would be sharing together.

Sena was rather apprehensive about the whole thing, since usually this was around the time all the other boys would start gofering Sena, but he did have Monta with him this time. To Sena's surprise, though, not only did their other roommates not begin bullying Sena, but one boy he recognized being in Suzuna's class started talking to him and seemed very impressed that Sena was Eyeshield 21.

"I remember that game you guys played against Zokugaku at school! Man, after that, I followed all the Deimon games!" the boy, named Tachigawa, said.

Sena rubbed the back of his head, chuckling nervously. "U-Um, it's not really that great—"

"Hey, that was my first game!" Monta butted in. "It was awesome max!"

"Yeah, hey, Hiruma-senpai throws the best passes, huh?" another boy, Nakada from Sena's class said.

Monta twitched, annoyed as he dug the football out of his backpack and began to jump around and pose catching. "Sena, toss it to me!" Monta said, throwing the football towards Sena so he could pass to Monta but…

"Wait, don't!" Sena said too late.

The football went crashing behind Monta and broke through the glass window, falling outside.

Everyone stared at the window for a moment.

"Sena! Monta! Are you guys ready?" Sena recognized Suzuna's voice from the hallways but even worse.

"Boys, finish up. Meet out in the lobby in ten minutes," one of the chaperones was outside.

The six boys exchanged horrified looks and darted into action.

"Quick!"

"Hide it!"

"Here, stuff this over it!"

"Stupid, who would stuff a pillow in a window anyway?"

"Tape! Does anyone have tape?"

This was going to be some trip, Sena thought.

--

That afternoon, the class split into groups to sightsee. Sena, Monta, and Suzuna's group ended up going to a museum where they spent the time peering curiously into glass cases, surreptitiously reaching over red ropes to sneak touches at ancient furniture, and wondering what it would be like to live way back then.

"I bet my brother would never survive if he had to live in ancient Japan," Suzuna said, rather unsupportively but then again, it _was_ Taki.

"No, I think Taki and Ootawara would be best at surviving back then, right? They'd be good at hunting, max!" Monta grinned. "You gotta be strong to survive!"

"Yeah, and Demon-bro would be like one of the lords who takes over the whole country!" Suzuna said cheerfully.

That, Sena could definitely imagine – Hiruma in an old warlord's armor, cackling evilly as he sat on a throne of power and chopped the heads off anyone who disobeyed him. What a scary thought…

"And if we lived back then, you'd probably be in a theatre troupe as a clown," Suzuna said to Monta who yelped in protest.

"Hey! Well, what you be? A peasant? No, a beggar who does street shows or something," Monta said. "But no one would want to watch you… now, Mamori… wow, I'd want to see her in a kimono!"

Suzuna twitched and started beating up on the both of them. "I'd be a lady of the court!" Suzuna said. "That's what you're supposed to say to a girl!"

"H-Hey! I didn't even say anything!" Sena protested. Of course if he imagined himself living back in those times… "I…I'd probably die…" he said.

Monta patted him on the back. "That's okay, man, not everyone was made to live in those times."

Suzuna didn't argue with him either.

That really didn't make Sena feel any better.

"Oh, but can't you see Takami-san and Hiruma-senpai battling for territory or something?" Monta continued.

"Yeah! Hey, and Shin would be the champion on Takami's side, right? Oh, and Musha-syan could totally be a samurai!" Suzuna added.

That, Sena could definitely see too. But as the three of them walked through the museum, had dinner with their classmates, and returned to the inn where Sena and his roommates stayed up to play cards and sneak snacks that night, he found himself thinking once more about Shin and their futures.

It was probably strange that Sena felt so concerned when it was Shin's future and not even his own. Even stranger, probably, since Shin didn't seem overly worried about it himself but Sena couldn't keep his mind off of it. And Sena had no clue why he felt so uncomfortable with the thought of Shin going abroad or just Shin going to a university in general – Shin not playing against Deimon anymore – Shin not playing against _him_ anymore.

That night as Sena lay on his futon, staring out of their window at the stars, he began to feel insecure again. But this time Shin wasn't around to give him advice.

--

tbc? Please review!

Haha, Shin's like a good future son-in-law? Well, cause it seems he went to, um, showed up to the Christmas Bowl with Sena's parents so… Also also, please please don't tell me anything about the Christmas Bowl yet and sorry for any inaccuracies since I'm putting off reading that arc until it's complete!


End file.
